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Fifteen people were killed and several others feared trapped in the waterlogged areas of Chembur and Vikhroli after heavy rains pounded Mumbai on Sunday. A team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has reached the Bharat Nagar area in Chembur, where a compound wall collapsed on shanties after a landslide. A rescue operation is underway. The NDRF recovered two bodies from the debris, while 10 were recovered by locals before the arrival of the NDRF personnel, news agency ANI quoted NDRF Inspector Rahul Raghuvansh as saying. "At least seven more people are feared trapped," he added. In a separate incident, three hutment dwellers were killed as five shanties collapsed after a landslide occurred in suburban Vikhroli, news agency PTI reported, quoting a civic official. Two persons, who were injured in the incident which took place at 2.30 am, were sent to a nearby hospital, the official said. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) announced that Rs Two lakh each woul

Ten people were killed and several others feared trapped in the waterlogged areas of Chembur and Vikhroli after heavy rains pounded Mumbai on Sunday. A team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has reached the Bharat Nagar area in Chembur, where a wall collapsed on shanties. A rescue operation is underway. NDRF has recovered one body, while six were pulled out by local civic workers and fire brigade personnel. Six to eight people are still feared to be trapped. In a separate incident, three hutment dwellers were killed as five shanties collapsed after a landslide occurred in suburban Vikhroli, news agency PTI reported, quoting a civic official. Two persons, who were injured in the incident which took place at 2.30 am, were sent to a nearby hospital, the official said. from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/3kwbyvF FP Staff

A day after the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government initiated talks with Kanwar Sanghs (organisations) following a nudge by the Supreme Court, the organisations decided to call off the Kanwar Yatra on Saturday in view of Covid-19." According to Uttar Pradesh government officials, Additional Chief Secretary Home Avnish Awasthi and DGP Mukul Goel held discussions with the Kanwar Sanghs on the instructions of the Chief Minister. Earlier on July 9, the Chief Minister had said that he would hold talks with the Kanwar Sanghs. "The officers should try to take decisions like last year by communicating with the Kanwar Sangh at the local level. Last year too, after talks with the administration, the Kanwar Sangh had announced the suspension of the yatra," Adityanath said. While on Friday, the Supreme Court granted one last opportunity to the Uttar Pradesh government to reconsider its decision of holding "symbolic Kanwar Yatra" amid the COVID-19 pandemic while

Dismissing speculation about the NCP and BJP coming together fuelled by a meeting in Delhi between party chief Sharad Pawar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik on Saturday said the two parties are like two ends of a river that can never unite. During their nearly hourly-long meeting, Pawar and Modi held talks on various issues including the Banking Amendments Act and the cooperative sector. "The NCP can never join hands with the BJP because both the parties are ideologically different. The BJP and NCP are two ends of a river that cannot come together as long as there is water in the river," the NCP spokesperson told reporters here. Malik said there is no truth in such rumours. The Sharad Pawar-led party is one of the constituents, along with the Congress, in the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra. Notably, the NCP had offered outside support to the BJP to form a government in Maharashtra after the

The Delhi University Saturday said that the admissions to its undergraduate programmes for 2021-22 will begin from 2 August. Like the previous years, the admission for students will take place through cut-offs based on merit and will be conducted completely through online mode. Candidates should note that the registration for the UG courses will end on 31 August . Earlier today in a press conference which was led by Chairperson for admissions, Rajeev Gupta asserted that students applying will be selected on merit-based programmes which will be totally based on cut-offs. "The admission branch is working with principals of colleges on modalities for deciding cut-offs so as to avoid over and under admissions," Gupta said. Further in the meeting, he also asserted that the change in criteria for evaluation by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is not likely to delay the announcement of Delhi University's cut-offs, as it will remain the same. Meanwhile, acting

The applications for Sailors for Matric Recruit (MR) posts have started on the official website of the Indian Navy. There are 350 vacancies that will be filled through this recruitment. The last date to apply for the posts is 23 July. According to the official website of the Indian Navy, the recruitment process is going to start from Monday, 19 July and will end on Friday, 23 July. Once they submit the application, the Indian Navy MR candidates will be shortlisted on the basis of the marks scored in the qualifying exam. Candidates will be writing a preliminary examination and will also have to appear for a physical fitness test for the recruitment process. The vacancies for this recruitment have been allocated in a state-wise manner and therefore, the cut off marks may vary from state to state. The notification says that eligible candidates should have passed their Matriculation Examination from the Boards of School Education which are recognised by the Ministry of Education. These

The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) has released the Regional Rural Banks (RRB) preliminary admit card for the recruitment of Officer Scale 1 examination. Candidates appearing for the IBPS RRB preliminary exam can check their hall tickets at the official website - ibps.in . Meanwhile, a link to download the admit card will be made available for applicants on the official website from 17 July to 7 August. The IBPS RRB preliminary exam is scheduled to be conducted from 1 to 7 August. The institute has increased the number of vacancies for candidates appearing for IBPS RRB Scale I examination. The vacancies have been increased from 4,257 to 4,716 posts for officers' scale I. Official notification for IBPS RRB: ibps.in/wp-content/uploads/RRB-CRP-Off-Scale-I-IH-X-EN-Pre.pdf Steps to download the IBPS RRB Prelims Admit Card 2021: Step 1: Visit the official website of IBPS Step 2: Click on IBPS RRB Prelims Admit Card 2021 link Step 3: Submit your login details

With COVID-19 cases declining in the country, several states have eased their restrictions while few others still continue to maintain lockdown rules in specific areas and cities. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also interacted with state chief ministers reviewing their efforts and measures taken for the people. On Friday, he asked the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Maharashtra and Kerala to take proactive measures to rule out the third wave by moving forward with the strategy of test, track, treat and 'tika (vaccine)'. These states have accounted for 80 percent of new  COVID-19  cases last week and 84 percent of deaths, he noted specifically mentioning the rise in infections in Kerala and Maharashtra as a matter of grave concern for the country. He asked the chief ministers to focus on districts with large numbers of cases. On Tuesday, Modi had interacted with chief ministers of eight North-Eastern states through video conferencin

With COVID-19 cases declining in the country, several states have eased their restrictions while few others still continue to maintain lockdown rules in specific areas and cities. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also interacted with state chief ministers reviewing their efforts and measures taken for the people. On Friday, he asked the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Maharashtra and Kerala to take proactive measures to rule out the third wave by moving forward with the strategy of test, track, treat and 'tika (vaccine)'. These states have accounted for 80 percent of new  COVID-19  cases last week and 84 percent of deaths, he noted specifically mentioning the rise in infections in Kerala and Maharashtra as a matter of grave concern for the country. He asked the chief ministers to focus on districts with large numbers of cases. On Tuesday, Modi had interacted with chief ministers of eight North-Eastern states through video conferencin

Yesterday, on 16 July, 2021, we received the news of the death of Danish Siddiqui. He lost his life in the line of duty. He was with Afghan security forces in southern Kandahar, documenting the country's fight against the Taliban, when he was killed in an ambush. Reuters first broke the news, citing an Afghan commander. Afghan special forces had been fighting to retake the main market area of Spin Boldak when Siddiqui and a senior Afghan officer were killed in what was described as Taliban crossfire. For us, as a part of the community, it was not just sad 'news', or incidental, or questionable. It was more akin to a slap in the face. It was tragic, and heartbreaking. He was a fellow photographer and a friend. He was just 41. He was dedicated to his job. Ask any good photojournalist what that job entails, and they will tell you that it is a commitment unlike any other. But he also leaves a family behind. A lot of us felt numb, and could not react. Outpourings of grief tri

The Delta variant of SARS-COV-2 was the major reason for breakthrough infections during the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in the country, but only 9.8 percent cases required hospitalisation and fatality was observed in only 0.4 percent cases, a new study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research has shown. The study, "Clinical characterization and Genomic analysis of COVID-19 breakthrough infections during second wave in different states of India", is the first such analysis on breakthrough infections post-vaccination. It was published on the preprint server medRxiv on Friday, and is yet to be peer-reviewed, reported the Indian Express . Breakthrough infections are those cases where a person gets infected even after getting vaccinated. The study indicated that majority of the clinical cases in the breakthrough were infected with the Delta variant in India. However, the death rate among vaccinated individuals was found to be low . The researchers tracked 677

The Department of Training and Technical Education in Delhi has started the online registration for Delhi ITI Admission 2021. Candidates who wish to apply for full-time certificate courses can visit the official website at itidelhiadmissions.nic.in . The certificate courses for Delhi ITI admissions are under National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) and State Council for Vocational Training (SCVT) in Delhi government Industrial Training Institutes. Follow these steps to apply for Delhi ITI admissions 2021: Step 1: Visit the official website itidelhiadmissions.nic.in Step 2: Click on the link for candidate registration that appears on the homepage Step 3: As a new page opens, candidates are required to fill the registration form correctly Step 4: Upload photo and pay fees online Step 5: Hit on submit and complete the registration process After submission of all documents, the concerned department will release the merit list of the candidates who will be called for cou

The University of Delhi (DU) will be conducting a conference meeting on the college admission process today, 17 July. As per a report by NDTV , the meet will be chaired by the vice-chancellor and was slated to begin at 12 pm. The conference meet is likely to focus on how the University of Delhi will be taking in eligible students for undergraduate programmes. The meeting is being held amid the coronavirus pandemic as various state boards have started announcing the Class 12 exam board results on the basis of alternative assessment criteria. This year, most of the board and state examinations were cancelled due to the rise in coronavirus cases across the country. Last year, the Delhi University admission process was conducted online due to the same reason. Usually, colleges associated with Delhi University declare a cut-off for various programmes. After that, interested and eligible candidates who the cut-off  criteria register themselves to the respective colleges in the city. Accor

The results of the Gujarat board class 12 Science stream have been announced by the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSEB). Schools can download the class 12 Science stream results from the website gseb.org . Students can only get access to their results from the school. The date for distribution of marksheets and certificates along with re-verification and evaluation will be announced by GSEB soon. According to NDTV , out of the over 1.07  lakh students who appeared for the exam, a total of 63,028 boys and 44,236 girls cleared it. There are 3,245 students from Science stream who have scored the A1 grade while 15,254 have secured A2. B1 grade has been secured by 24,757 students and 26,831 have been awarded B2 grade. E1 grade has been scored by 289 students. Only four students have received E2 grade. The report stated that the highest number of A1 grade (829) scorers are from the Rajkot district. The evaluation of class 12 Science stream students was based o

The Indian education system inculcates among our young a touching tradition of accepting hand-me-downs. Whether it is the elder sibling’s books and clothes or western notions of ‘cool’, the young receive second-hand stuff unquestioningly. Okay, maybe the old books and clothes a little grudgingly sometimes. This is why our alarms should have gone off when in 2015 a Gallup poll found that nearly 70 percent of American millennials, suckled on the teats of a free-market economy and great democratic freedom, said they would be happy to vote for a socialist presidential candidate. Then in 2020, a poll conducted before the presidential election by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation found that barely half of the millennials were fine with socialism. Besides, 36 percent of millennials and 25 percent Gen Z-ers had a favourable view of Communism. These are generations born after tens of millions were killed by Lenin’s de-Cossackisation and famines, Stalin’s stone-cold gulags, Mao’s ‘

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to formulate a national policy to stop people from crowding at one place for social, political and religious purposes in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19. Thackeray made this suggestion in a virtual meeting held by the prime minister on Friday during which he took stock of the coronavirus situation. Even as the government is battling the COVID-19 pandemic, the crowding at public places is a huge challenge. The Centre should conceptualise a national-level policy to prevent public crowding from happening in the name of social, political and religious gatherings, the chief minister said. How big an assembly be called a public gathering? The World Health Organisation describes mass gathering as any "high profile international sporting events such as the Olympics or World Cups as well as international religious events such as the Hajj count as mass gatherings. However, lower profile conferences and

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to formulate a national policy to stop people from crowding at one place for social, political and religious purposes in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19. Thackeray made this suggestion in a virtual meeting held by the prime minister on Friday during which he took stock of the coronavirus situation. Even as the government is battling the COVID-19 pandemic, the crowding at public places is a huge challenge. The Centre should conceptualise a national-level policy to prevent public crowding from happening in the name of social, political and religious gatherings, the chief minister said. How big an assembly be called a public gathering? The World Health Organisation describes mass gathering as any "high profile international sporting events such as the Olympics or World Cups as well as international religious events such as the Hajj count as mass gatherings. However, lower profile conferences and

The dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over sharing the waters of the Cauvery river seems unending with a new twist added by the former's intention to go ahead with the construction of the Mekedatu dam. Tamil Nadu has strongly opposed the plan with the Union Territory of Puducherry, too, expressing its opposition. Here's what you need to know. What is the Mekedatu Dam project? In early 2019, the Karnataka government had submitted a detailed project report to the Centre on its plans for the construction of a reservoir at Mekedatu in Ramanagara district, about 90km away from Bengaluru and 4km ahead of the border with Tamil Nadu. The key aim of the about Rs 9,000 crore project, Karnataka has maintained, is to ensure adequate drinking water supply for Bengaluru. Proposed to come up at the confluence of Cauvery with its tributary Arkavathi, the dam is expected to have a capacity of about 66 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water and would also generate 400MW of hydroe

Petrol prices remained unchanged in the country on Saturday day while diesel rates also followed a similar trend. In Delhi, petrol prices remained at Rs 101.54 a litre while the rate of diesel was at Rs 89.87. In Mumbai, petrol can be bought at Rs 107.54 per litre and diesel at Rs 97.45 for one litre. One litre of petrol is priced at Rs 102.23 in Chennai and diesel costs Rs 94.39 per litre in the city. Similarly, petrol in Kolkata costs Rs 101.74 per litre and diesel at Rs 93.02 a litre. While petrol can be bought at Rs 109.89 in Bhopal, and diesel is priced at Rs 98.67 for one litre. Petrol prices have increased  eight times  in this month. Since 4 May, fuel prices have been on the rise in the country after the assembly elections in states and Union Territories including West Bengal, Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Petrol and diesel prices  are revised by the oil marketing companies including Bharat Petroleum, Indian Oil and Hindustan Petroleum. The new prices are implem

Class 12 result for the Science stream will be announced by the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB), Gandhinagar at 8 am tomorrow, 17 July. Once released, schools have to log in on the official website -  gseb.org  - using their index numbers and passwords to access and download the results. Schools will then have to share the scorecards with students. Steps in order to download GSEB HSC Result 2021: Step 1 : Visit the official website - gseb.org Step 2 : On the homepage, look for the ‘Science stream’ link and open it Step 3 : Now, log in using the school index number and password on the new page Step 4 : The GSEB Class 12 result 2021 will be displayed on the screen Step 5 : Save the scorecards to share with students The GSEB Class 12 board examinations got cancelled due to the second coronavirus wave and the results have been prepared on the basis of alternative assessment criteria. As per the evaluation criteria, the board have taken into account

India’s second COVID-19 wave is abating, the lockdowns have been lifted yet the economy is in uncharted territory, humming tentatively as a third wave lurks threateningly in the background. The tentative recovery needs the momentum of reforms to roar. An anemic post-pandemic growth will not do, fundamental reforms are needed to create the momentum. Earlier, reforms used to be “important”; with a limping economy now threatening to go into a comatose state, reforms need to be undertaken with a never-before sense of urgency. Some sectors have been irreversibly changed, some things will never be the same again. The pandemic has reduced household savings and may have even changed the outlook towards discretionary spending in the mid-term. The loss of the savings cushion is due to cut in wages, loss of jobs, or in the worst case, the disappearance of certain jobs. Many families have lost their primary breadwinners; the loss of savings due to healthcare costs will also reduce their consumpt

The social media handles of Mumbai Police have got their game right on point as they never fail to impress the followers with creative posts. In the latest Instagram post, Mumbai Police has used 'Felix Felicis’ reference from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in order to highlight the importance of wearing masks amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Referring to the famous scene from the Harry Potter film, that features Harry Potter and the Potions Master Professor Horace Slughorn, Mumbai Police has reminded people to wear masks. In the scene, Professor Slughorn gives a Felix Felicis (also called Liquid Luck) to Potter. However, Mumbai Police has used an edited image in which the Professor is seen giving a mask to Potter instead. The professor himself is also seen donning a mask in the viral image. The picture has been captioned as, "A little bit of 'Felix Felicis' and mask by your side to ensure you stay safe from Corona". The Marathi lines in the caption

After hitting record highs, the domestic market indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 ended flat today, 16 July. At the closing bell, Sensex went down by 18.79 points and was at 53,140.06. Meanwhile, Nifty ended at 15,923.40 after decreasing by 0.80 points. BSE Smallcap and Midcap were in the green and ended 0.38 and 0.45 percent higher respectively. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) BSE Sensex closed at 53,140.06 with a loss of 18.79 points or 0.04 percent . The top gainers were Bharti Airtel, Ultracem Co, Tata Steel, Power Grid, and Reliance. The top laggards were HCL Tech, Infosys, Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank, and NTPC. Top BSE Sensex gainers: Bharti Airtel : The company was the top gainer of the day with a hike of 2.94 percent and closed at Rs 541.00. Ultracem Co : The shares of the company rose 1.95 percent to close at Rs 7,331.40. Tata Steel : It witnessed a jump of 1.77 percent to settle the day at Rs 1,278.30. Power Grid : 1.50 percent increase was observed in the share price of