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New Delhi: India on Sunday recorded 25,320 COVID-19 infections, the highest daily rise in 84 days, taking the case tally to 1,13,59,048, according to Union health ministry data. As many as 26,624 new infections were recorded on 20 December. The toll increased to 1,58,607 on Sunday with 161 new fatalities, the highest in 44 days, the data updated at 8 am showed. The country's active caseload increased to 2,10,544 and constitutes 1.85 percent of the total infections. The recovery rate dropped to 96.75 percent from 96.82 percent on Saturday. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,09,89,897, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.40 percent, the data stated. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on 7 August, 30 lakh on 23 August, 40 lakh on 5  September and 50 lakh on 16 September. It went past 60 lakh on 28 September, 70 lakh on 11 October, 80 lakh on 29 October, 90 lakh on 20 November and surpassed the one-crore mark on 19 Dec

In a rare move, the four leaders of the Quad grouping wrote a joint opinion piece for the Washington Post on Sunday, in which they shared their vision for an Indo-Pacific region that is “free, open, resilient and inclusive”. The article comes two days after the first virtual summit of the Quad leaders was held. It has been co-authored by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Australian prime minister Scott Morrison and Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga. In the opinion piece, the four leaders wrote, "We are striving to ensure that the Indo-Pacific is accessible and dynamic, governed by international law and bedrock principles such as freedom of navigation and peaceful resolution of disputes, and that all countries are able to make their own political choices, free from coercion. In recent years, that vision has increasingly been tested. Those trials have only strengthened our resolve to reckon with the most urgent of global challenges together.&

Mumbai: Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday ordered hotels and restaurants in the state to ensure strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols in their premises and not force the state to enforce drastic measures like lockdown Speaking at a virtual meeting attended by representatives of hotel and restaurant associations, shopping centre groups, the chief minister said a "lackadaisical" attitude towards outbreak norms had crept in lately. "Do not force us to impose a strict lockdown. Consider this as the last warning. Follow all the rules. Everyone has to realise there is a difference between self-discipline and restrictions," Thackeray said. The chief minister pointed out that crowds had increased in most places since activities resumed in a phased manner from October, and safety rules were not being followed and this had resulted in a steep surge in cases. Incidentally, Maharashtra on Saturday recorded 15,602 COVID-19 cases and 88 deaths, taking

New Delhi: The Supreme Court being left with only one woman judge is "deeply worrying" and must promptly receive serious introspection, apex court judge, Justice DY Chandrachud, said on Saturday. Justice Chandrachud was speaking at a farewell ceremony organised by the Supreme Court Young Lawyers Forum to honour Justice Indu Malhotra — the first woman lawyer to be appointed directly as a judge of the Supreme Court — who retired from the apex court on Saturday. "Justice Malhotra's retirement means that the SC now has only one female judge on the Bench. As an institution, I find that this is a deeply worrying fact and must promptly receive serious introspection," Justice Chandrachud said. He said that "as an institution whose decision shape and impact lives of everyday Indian, we must do better". "We must ensure the diversity of our country find reflection in making up of our court. Intrinsically having a more diverse judiciary is an end, a goal

Bhubaneswar:  Odisha School and Mass Education Minister SR Dash Saturday said students from Class 1 to Class 8 may be given promotion to the next class without any examination as schools have remained closed for them since March 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The minister said a final decision in this regard will be taken by the government soon. The classes for the students of Class-I to Class-8 will not reopen soon in view of the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in some states. He also said that the new academic session may not start in April this year. from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/3bKprlb Press Trust of India

Jabalpur: A video showing a 17-year-old boy being thrashed, made to smoke a cigarette and lick shoes over a monetary dispute in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh went viral on social media, leading to the arrest of one of the four offenders, police said on Saturday. The four, including arrested accused Deepak Passi (20), have been charged with kidnapping and assault, Inspector Sahadev Sahu of Gora Bazar police station said. "The incident happened due to a dispute over Rs 2,000. When the victim did not return home on Thursday night, a missing person complaint was filed by his parents. Later the video of the boy being thrashed surfaced," he said. The police's probe has found that the four accused took the victim to a ground in the Nayagaon area, where one of them slapped him multiple times, while another tried to make him smoke a cigarette, and all of them forced him to clean and lick their shoes. Passi was arrested two days ago, the official added. from Firstpost India Lat

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and 20 party workers have been booked in connection with an alleged assault on some journalists in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad district, police said on Saturday. A counter-FIR has been also lodged against the journalists by Samajwadi Party district president Jaiveer Yadav. On the basis of a complaint by a journalist, an FIR was registered at Pakhwara police station late on Friday night under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), officials said. According to the complainant, Yadav, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, was irked by a few personal questions posed by some journalists during an interaction with him at a hotel on 11 March after a press conference. Following this, Yadav allegedly instigated his security guards and aides to attack the journalists, the FIR claimed. It also alleged that the security guards and over 20 SP workers beat up the journalists causing grievous injuries. The journalists in question claime

Bengaluru: The Bengaluru police on Saturday registered a case of conspiracy and blackmailing against unknown persons based on a complaint by BJP MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi who resigned as a minister following allegations of sexual harassment against him. Instead of approaching the police, the former minister sent his confidant MV Nagaraj to the Sadashivanagar police station in the afternoon to hand over the copy of his complaint. Police registered a case of criminal conspiracy, extortion and forgery under various sections of the IPC, sources said. In the complaint, Jarkiholi has named no one but has charged that some people with an intention to extort money resorted to defaming him. He stated that a conspiracy was going on against him for the past three months by 'creating' a fake CD (video) to finish him off politically and blackmail him. "There are many people involved in it, amongst them, a few hatched the conspiracy, became part of preparing the fake CD and released it o

New Delhi:  Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics will continue to be important subjects in engineering courses and it is not mandatory for state government or institutions to offer these courses to students who have not studied them in class 12, the AICTE said on Friday. Addressing a press conference, AICTE chairperson Anil Sahasrabudhe also said students opting for streams like Biotechnology, Textile or Agriculture Engineering will have an option to not study these subjects in class 12. The clarification by Sahasrabudhe came following news reports about Physics and Mathematics no longer being compulsory for studying engineering as per the approval handbook for 2021-22 issued by the AICTE. "Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics will continue to be important subjects for certain streams of engineering like mechanical engineering, it's not that these subjects will lose their relevance. However, for streams like Textile Engineering, Agriculture or maybe Biotechnology, students will

On 12 August 2020, the Government of Maharashtra extended the help of Rs 4,000 to the Adivasi families in the state. The state approved a budget of Rs 462 crore towards the scheme and finalised 11.55 lakh families as the beneficiaries. The scheme, known as Khawati yojana, was supposed to provide some respite to the Adivasi families struggling due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown. On 9 September, a government resolution was issued, which said that Rs 2,000 would be debited to their accounts. And Rs 2,000 worth of ration would be given to them. Seven months later, they are still waiting for that respite. "About three months back, some officials came to my house and took copies of my Aadhar card and bank statements," said Pintu Gangad, 30, a farm labourer from the village of Zarwad Budruk in Maharashtra’s Nashik district. “But nothing has happened since then.” Gangad, who belongs to the Thakur Adivasi community, said his work particularly dwindled post the lockdown. Prim

Terming Congress as "most corrupt", Union Textiles minister Smriti Zubin Irani on Saturday said the opposition party only showed dreams of development in Assam and indulged in "politics of divide". Addressing three back-to-back rallies in her maiden election campaign in Assam, the senior BJP leader appealed to the people of Assam to vote for the saffron party to continue to avail benefits of various central and state schemes. Kickstarting her day-long programme at Mariani, she said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal have rolled out a number of schemes, benefiting the poor people of the state. "...there is no one more corrupt than Congress. Only BJP is the party, which works for the benefit of the poors. The BJP government has worked tirelessly for the people in tea gardens across the state," said Irani, also the Minister of Women and Child Development. Listing out a series of schemes launched by the central and state gov

Bhopal:  Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that night curfew might be imposed in Bhopal and Indore from Sunday or Monday in view of spurt in coronavirus cases in these two districts. He said this during a meeting held on Friday evening to review the coronavirus situation in the state. "Look at the rise in infection cases...Tough measures will be taken to flatten the curve. Night curfew might be clamped in Bhopal and Indore from Sunday or Monday," Chouhan was quoted as saying in an official statement. The chief minister said that people coming to the state by air, trains or roads from neighbouring Maharashtra, where there is a spike in cases, should be thermally scanned. During the meeting, ways to restrict the influx of people from Maharashtra were also discussed, the statement said. Chouhan also instructed the officials to ensure that COVID-19 rules are strictly followed by people to prevent the spread of the virus. On Friday, 603 new COVID -

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has issued a recruitment notification on its official website https://www.upsc.gov.in . The notification lists vacancies for four different categories. The names and numbers of vacancies are as follows: Lady Medical Officer(Family Welfare): Two Principal Design Officer (Electrical): One Ship Surveyor cum Deputy Director General: One Assistant Architect: One The last date to apply for these positions is Friday, 2 April. Aspirants can do so through the Online Recruitment Applications (ORA) portal. Here are the steps that they can take to apply: Step 1: Visit the official website https://www.upsc.gov.in Step 2: On the homepage, click on the option ‘Online Recruitment Applications’ under the recruitment section Step 3: Now, click on Apply Now written next to the post of your interest Step 4: Read the instructions carefully and click on next. Another page will load. Carefully go through the instructions again and proceed Step 5: You will

The Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation Limited (UPMRCL) has released a notification inviting online applications for various posts on its official website. Candidates eligible for the posts of assistant manager, station controller, and maintainer are advised to visit lmrcl.com and apply. The application process was started on 11 March and aspirants have time till 2 April to apply. The written exam is going to be held on 17 April. The metro rail corporation is planning to fill 292 positions via this recruitment drive. Out of which, there are 186 vacant posts for Station Controller cum Train Operator (SC/ TO). 52 vacancies are for Maintainer (Electrical), 24 for Maintainer (Civil) and Maintainer (S&T), and six for Assistant Manager (Operation). Here is the direct link to register for the Uttar Pradesh MRCL recruitment drive. Candidates must match the age limit and educational qualifications prescribed by the board in order to be eligible. As per the official notice , candida

The Teachers’ Recruitment Board, Tripura (TRBT), on Wednesday, 10 March, invited applications for the posts of Under Graduate Teacher (UGT) and Graduate Teacher (GT). The undergraduate teacher vacancies are for classes 1 to 5. While the graduate teacher recruitment is for classes 6 to 8. The notification which has been released on the TRBT website https://ift.tt/39pwwHa states that the application deadline is Sunday, 14 March, up to 4 pm. The recruitment is conducted to fill 2,373 vacancies. Out of these, 1,154 positions are for Under Graduate Teachers while 1,219 are for Graduate Teachers. Aspirants can follow these steps to apply: Step 1: Visit the official website https://trb.tripura.gov.in/ Step 2: On the homepage, you will find the option Apply Online. Click on this Step 3: A new page will open. Enter name, contact details, date of birth and password to register Step 4: Once the registration is done, fill in the form and pay the fee to complete your application Step 5: Dow

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday announced that more than six coronavirus vaccines will come up in India. He also said that 1.84 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered to people so far, while 23 crore tests have been conducted. "India has developed two vaccines, which have been given to 71 countries. Many more nations are seeking the vaccines, and these are not little-known  nations...Canada, Brazil and other developed countries are using Indian vaccines with a great zeal," he said. "More than half a dozen vaccines are going to come up," he said. "Till Saturday morning, 1.84 crore vaccine shots have been given in the country and 20 lakh people were inoculated yesterday," the minister added. He was speaking while inaugurating the new green campus of the National Institute of Research in Environmental Health near new Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to create a new India to turn it into a 'vishwa guru' (world

The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) has released the admit cards for the upcoming Junior Engineer (JE) (Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Quantity Surveying, and Contract) recruitment exam. SSC JE 2020 candidates, who have completed the registration process, need to download the hall tickets in order to be allowed to appear in the tests going to be held from 22 to 24 March. The admit cards have been released for the Central region. Earlier , SSC had made available the hall tickets for Madhya Pradesh and Western regions. Direct links have been activated on the individual sites of the regional sectors. Candidates can visit ssc-cr.org , sscmpr.org , and sscwr.net to view and download their admit cards. Follow these steps to download SSC JE recruitment examination 2021 hall tickets: Step 1: Visit the official site of the SSC region from where you are going to appear in the exam. It could be either ssc-cr.org, sscmpr.org, or sscwr.net, depending upon your area Step 2: On the homepage, g

The National Testing Agency (NTA) released the final answer key of All India Sainik School Entrance Test (AISSEE) 2021 online on Friday. Candidates who appeared in the entrance exam, which was conducted on 7 February, can visit the official site of NTA AISSEE at aissee.nta.nic.in and go through the answer key. According to a report by The Indian Express , the authority had released the provisional answer key on 4 March, allowing the candidates to raise objections or submit complaints regarding the key till 6 March. The final answer key has been framed after all the objections were taken into account by the exam-conducting agency. The result for the AISSEE 2021 has been also formulated following the final answer key. Follow these steps to check AISSEE final answer key 2021: Step 1: Visit the official website of NTA AISSEE at aissee.nta.nic.in Step 2: Click on the link to check the final answer key available under the News and Events section on the homepage Step 3: You will be re

Dehradun: One bogie of Dehradun-bound Shatabdi Express caught fire Saturday but no casualty was reported, police said. The train's bogie caught fire near Kasro railway station when it was coming from Delhi, Uttarakhand police chief Ashok Kumar said, adding no one, however, was killed or injured in the incident. Kumar said all passengers were evacuated from the affected coach which was separated from the train, DGP Kumar said. The train has reached Dehradun, he added. from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/3t9iPmi Press Trust of India

Mumbai: Seeking to ensure strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols by air travellers, aviation regulator DGCA on Saturday asked airlines to deboard passengers who do not wear their mask "properly" despite repeated warnings. Also, the watchdog has directed airlines to treat a passenger as "unruly" in case the person violates the protocols. The latest directives come against the backdrop of rising number of coronavirus cases in certain parts of the country even as domestic air traffic is improving. In a circular issued on Saturday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has also directed the airport operators to ensure that the passengers wear their mask and maintain social distancing norms at all times during the air travel. The DGCA said it has been noticed that some travellers undertaking air journey do not adhere to "COVID-19 protocols", which essentially involve wearing of masks properly -- not below the nose, right from entering the depar

Farmers leading the sustained protests against the Centre's farm laws at Delhi's borders have shifted focus to the poll-bound state of West Bengal. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) , an umbrella body of over 40 farmers' unions, on Friday urged farmers in the state not to vote for the BJP in the upcoming elections. Several leaders of the SKM are set to participate in rallies and kisan mahapanchayats  across the state on Saturday and Sunday. The farmer unions' events will come amid an already-volatile political atmosphere, with the BJP and TMC running high-octane campaigns to secure power in the state. While the saffron party is bolstered by the gains made in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the stream of top TMC leaders seeking to join it, the TMC has tried to shape the narrative to show Mamata as " Bengal's own daughter " and the BJP as "outsiders". Farmer leaders Rakesh Tikait and Yudhvir Singh are likely to attend the mahapanchayats  in Kolkata&#

The second wave of COVID-19 in Maharashtra has been on a steady rise in recent weeks. On Friday, the state recorded this year's highest one-day spike on the third day in a row, with 15,817 new cases. The cumulative tally in the state has now reached 22,82,191. The death toll rose to 52,723 on Friday with 56 new fatalities. According to a report by Times Now , at least ten districts in Maharashtra have reported a sharp spike in the number of cases reported daily. Consequently, as many as eight districts have seen strict restrictions being re-introduced. Parts of Pune, Mumbai, Amravati, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar, Parbhani, and Navi Mumbai currently have curfews and lockdowns in place. Here is a city-wide breakdown of the restrictions: Nagpur The city of Nagpur is going to see a strict lockdown being enforced from 15 to 21 March, Livemint   quoted district guardian minister Nitin Raut as saying. Shops selling essential commodities will remain open and private offices are going to be

The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has restrained the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government and the state Election Commission from finalising reserved seats for the upcoming panchayat elections in the state. The Bench comprising Justices Ritu Raj Awasthi and Manish Mathur instructed the government and Commission to submit their response to issues raised in a public interest litigation within 24 hours. The court will next hear the case on 15 March. Mohammad Altaf Mansoor, the counsel for petitioner Ajai Kumar, told the court that the government had issued the UP Panchayat Raj (Reservation and Allotment of Seats and Offices) Rules in 1994, providing 1995 as the base to reserve seats on rotation, PTI reported. On 16 September, 2015, the government issued another notification, saying the base year for reservation would be 2015 and applied it in the panchayat elections that year. The said notification was issued considering the change in demographic situation in the s

Muzaffarnagar: Police in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district has received an unusual request — to find a bride for a two-foot-tall man. Azim, 26, had on Tuesday approached the women police station in Shamli, claiming that his family members were not getting him married and requested the police to find a match for him. However, he had no success. Station House Officer of the police station Niraj Choudhry said police have no role in arranging marriages for people. "We can help if there is a dispute between couples but to find a bride for a man is not our job," she said. Azim’s family, who live in Kairana, said they want him to get married but someone should be willing to marry him. He is physically weak and has got problems with his hands. We want him to be married to a person who can take care of him, Azim’s brother Mohammad Naeem said. We have got many proposals including one from Moradabad and we are planning to travel there to see the woman, he added. However, Azim cla

10:58 (IST) Assembly Election 2021 LATEST Updates Congress’ Kerala final list on 14 March  The Congress will announce the list of candidates for the Assembly elections in Kerala on Sunday. The party was yet to clinch the names of the contestants in 10 seats.  10:52 (IST) Assembly Election 2021 LATEST Updates Congress to contest 91 seats in Kerala The Kerala unit of Congress party is going to contest in 91 out of the 140 constituencies for the 6 April Assembly polls. KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran said in New Delhi that the AICC had finalised the names of 81 candidates.  "Discussions are on to finalise candidates for remaining 10 seats.The central election committee of the Congress party, chaired by party president Sonia Gandhi, has decided to field 91 congress candidates in Kerala," Ramachandran said. 10:23 (IST) Assembly Election 2021 LATEST Updates Bengal govt submits report on Mamata's injury to EC, no mention of 'four-five attackers'

New Delhi: In their first ever summit, leaders of the four-nation Quad on Friday finalised a landmark initiative under which huge investments will be made in India to create additional production capacities to roll out a billion coronavirus vaccine doses by 2022 for exports to the Indo-Pacific region, seen as a significant step to counter China's expanding vaccine diplomacy. The Quad leaders — Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Australian PM Scott Morrison and Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga, vowed to strive for an Indo-Pacific region that is free, open, inclusive, healthy, anchored by democratic values, and unconstrained by coercion, sending an apparent message to China. The Quad leaders also decided to create three working groups in areas of vaccine, climate crisis and critical and emerging technology. In his opening remarks at the virtual summit, Modi said the four-nation Quad has come of age and its agenda covering areas like vaccines, climate change and emerg

NEET 2021: The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to undergraduate medical courses will be conducted on 1 August, the Ministry of Education's National Testing Agency (NTA) announced on Friday. Candidates wanting to apply to MBBS/BDS programmes will be able to submit an application for the entrance examination on the official portal ntaneet.nic.in . For more details, candidates can also check the NTA's official website nta.ac.in . "The NEET (UG), 2021, is going to be conducted by NTA for admission to MBBS, BDS, BAMS, BSMS, BUMS and BHMS courses as per the relevant norms, guidelines and regulations notified by the regulatory bodies concerned. The exam will be conducted in 11 languages, including Hindi and English, through pen and paper mode on 1 August," the NTA said in the official notification. A bulletin with detailed information regarding the test, syllabus, eligibility criteria for age, reservation, categorisation of seats, examination

New Delhi: In a significant verdict, the Supreme Court Friday held that a person employed with the government cannot work as state election commissioners (SECs) and came down on the Goa government for giving its Law Secretary the additional charge of the SEC. The apex court said the state poll panels shall be headed by independent persons who do not hold any office under the state government and if they hold any such offices, then they have to resign before taking charge of SEC. The top court said election commissioners have to be independent persons and no state can appoint a person who holds any office with the government. A bench headed by Justice RF Nariman also directed the Goa state election body to issue the notification for the local body polls within 10 days from today and complete the election process by 30 April. Under the Constitutional mandate, it is the duty of the state to not interfere with the functioning of the state election commission, the bench held in its jud

Mumbai:  Maharashtra recorded this year's highest one-day spike on the third day in a row on Friday with 15,817 new infections coming to light, a health official said. The caseload in the state rose to 22,82,191, while the death toll reached 52,723 with 56 new fatalities. The state had earlier reported more than 15,000 cases on 2 October last year, after which new cases had declined. But a fresh surge in cases began last month and the state recorded 13,659 and 14,317 cases on Wednesday and Thursday. As many as 11,344 patients were discharged from hospitals on Friday, taking the total of recoveries to 21,17,744. There are 1,10,485 active cases. Pune city recorded the highest 1,845 new cases, followed by 1,729 in Nagpur and 1,647 in Mumbai. Pune division comprising civic bodies of Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad as well as districts of Pune, Solapur and Satara reported total of 3,580 cases, highest among the divisions. The number of cases in the Pune division so far stood at 5,53,064

Delegations of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the BJP separately met the Election Commission in Delhi on Friday over the alleged attack on West Bengal chief minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee. Banerjee had suffered severe injuries in her left ankle and foot and right shoulder, forearm and neck after she was allegedly pushed by some unidentified people on Wednesday evening while campaigning in Nandigram. Banerjee is contesting from Nandigram in the upcoming Assembly election against former aide and turncoat Suvendu Adhikari. On Friday, the TMC, who took up the matter with the West Bengal EC soon after the incident, also met Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora in Delhi and demanded a "high-level" probe. The six-member delegation met the full EC team, including Arora, for over an hour and submitted a memorandum claiming that BJP leaders in West Bengal had "threatened" the chief minister through tweets and other remarks. Additionally, a delegation of the

The annual theatre festival of the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA), which was to be held over the end of February and early March at Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh, was reportedly called off due to opposition from the Bajrang Dal over the staging of two plays. These plays are said to be  Jati Hi Poocho Sadhu Ki (Ask Only the Caste of the S adhu ) written by the Padma Bhushan awardee Vijay Tendulkar, and Besharammev Jayate (Shamelessness Alone Triumphs) by renowned Hindi playwright Prema Janamejaya; the group had raised concerns that these satirical plays were "anti-national" and "anti-Hindu". Jati Hi Poocho Sadhu Ki is the Hindi translation of the Marathi play Pahije Jatiche written by Tendulkar; it debuted in 1976 and been since staged multiple times across various locations in India. It is a dark, satirical take on the life of a poor Indian born in a low-caste family and how he struggles to find a footing in society. Besharammev Jayate , a wordplay on