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In a move to improve relations after a deadly border clash, the Assam government indicated it had managed to clear an unofficial blockade on Mizoram by negotiating with angry residents of the border towns. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, dispatched two ministers Saturday to pacify locals who had been preventing cross-border vehicular movement. Sarma is also due to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah — who had stepped in earlier as well to convince two states to allow neutral Central forces to patrol border — on Monday. A ground report in  Hindustan Times  claimed that the blockade involving hundreds of trucks carrying essential supplies such as food, potable water, oxygen and medical supplies have slowly been able to resume movement since Sunday. However, the state of Mizoram is yet to officially confirm this development. What's happening at Assam-Mizoram border? Notwithstanding a peace deal and positive communication from both sides after an interstate clash in India

With 39,070 people testing positive for coronavirus infection, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 3,19,34,455, while the death toll climbed to 4,27,862 with 491 fresh fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday. The active cases have declined to 4,06,822 and comprise 1.27 percent of the total infections. The national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 97.39 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed. A decrease of 5,331 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,10, 99,771, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 per cent, the data stated. As many as 17,22,221 tests were conducted on Saturday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 48,00,39,185. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.27 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for the last 13 days, the ministr

Petrol prices remained unchanged in the country for the 22nd day on Sunday while diesel rates also did not go up. In Delhi, petrol prices remained at Rs 101.84 a litre while the rate of diesel was at Rs 89.87. In Mumbai, petrol can be bought at Rs 107.83 per litre and diesel costs Rs 97.45 for one litre. One litre of petrol is priced at Rs 102.49 in Chennai and diesel costs Rs 94.39 per litre in the city. Petrol in Kolkata costs Rs 102.08 per litre and diesel is priced at Rs 93.02. While petrol can be bought at Rs 110.20 in Bhopal and diesel is priced at Rs 98.67 for one litre. 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 implemented at 6 am every day. States and cities have different fuel p

Amid the busy life between work and family, people usually prefer eating bread and omelette for breakfast which is not just easy to prepare but also tasty. Eggs can be eaten in several ways because of its nutritious value but a video going viral shows a rather unique way of making eggs. Among the various kinds of breakfast that include bread and eggs, a shop in Gujarat's Surat city sells Fanta Omelette. Yes, you heard it right! A video has gone viral after a food blogger recently visited a shop in Surat that sells Fanta Omelette for Rs 250. The blogger shared it on his YouTube Channel called India Eat Mania where it shows the process of making the omelette. In the video, the unique dish is prepared which is a combination of different types of eggs prepared along with a generous splash of the beverage. "Mom come pick me they're frying Fanta with eggs," wrote the Twitter user while sharing the video on the microblogging site. Check the video here: Mom come pick m

The Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla is hopeful that Covovax, another COVID-19 vaccine being manufactured by his company, will be launched in October for adults and for children by the first quarter of 2022. Covovax is the brand name of Novavax, a US-based biotechnology company whose vaccines are yet to be rolled out in the US. In August last year, Novavax Inc. had announced a licence agreement with the SII for the development and commercialisation of Novavax in low and middle-income countries and India. The latter has committed to supply 200 million doses of the Novavax vaccine between September and December. Here's everything you need to know about this much-anticipated vaccine. The origin In January, SII sought the Drugs Controller General of India's (DCGI) permission to conduct a small domestic trial of a new vaccine against COVID-19 developed by the US-based Novavax. Codenamed 'NVX-CoV2373', the Novavax is a prefusion protein coronavirus vaccine, wh

The schedule for the improvement and compartment examinations for ICSE (Class 10) and ISC (Class 12) has been released by the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE). The exams are set to begin on 16 August. Candidates can check the notification and detailed timetable at the official site of the CISCE https://cisce.org/ . For the ICSE (Class 10) students, the examinations are scheduled to begin on 16 August and conclude on 2 September. For ISC (Class 12) candidates, the exams will conclude on 7 September.  As per the notification, the results will be declared around 20 September. Candidates who clear the examinations will have to return the previous original statement of marks to their schools. The revised statement, declaring the candidate’s status from Pass Certificate Not Awarded (PCNA) to Pass Certificate Awarded (PCA), will be issued only after receipt of the previous statement.  Unsuccessful candidates must also return their statement of marks to their school, in orde

The National Handloom Day is observed on 7 August across the country. It is a day to honour the Swadeshi Movement that took place in 1905 and to celebrate India's rich fabrics. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the country will celebrate the 7th National Handloom Day to exhibit the legacy of the Indian handloom industry and also to honour the weavers in India. The main objective of this day is to raise awareness among the common people, increase the contribution towards socio-economic development for the weavers in the country and provide better opportunities for them. History of National Handloom Day To mark the 100th anniversary of the Swadeshi Movement that began in 1905 on this day, the Union Government declared 7 August as National Handloom Day. The day was first observed in the year 2015 by the Central government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated the first National Handloom Day in Tamil Nadu's Chennai city. Significance of National Handloom Day Among the many s

An Indian restaurant in England, is offering a challenge guaranteed to test anyone's appetite. The "Grand Thali Challenge" at Lily's Vegetarian Indian Cuisine in Manchester is inviting people to finish a grand thali, containing about seven kilograms of food, in one hour. Customers who manage to complete the challenge will get their money back and a free t-shirt from the restaurant. The thali is priced at £35 (Rs 3,611). Served on a 24-inch platter, the challenge contains an assortment of 50 Indian dishes. The food items include six desserts, three rice bowls, sixteen types of curries and eight types of rotis. Till now, no one has been able to successfully complete the challenge. Food lovers have been salivating over this delicious challenge. Three foodies tried to finish the platter on 4 August, but were unable to complete it in the given time limit. More people since then have attempted the challenge. In an interview, restaurant owner Pritil Sachdev said that t

India had many poets and playwrights during the Independence era but Rabindranath Tagore stood out as the ‘multifaceted genius’ who is known for his short stories, poetry, plays, dramas and novels. Born on 7 May, 1861, Tagore began writing poetry at the young age of eight. He published his first collection when he was only 16 years old under the pseudonym Bhanusimha. From then on, his work as a great scholar, poet, novelist, musician, playwright, and artist took centre stage in his entire life. Among the many awards to his name, Tagore became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. He was conferred with the prize for his poetry collection titled Gitanjali . Tagore's works were known across the world; they were also widely translated into languages including English, Dutch, German, Spanish, and other European dialects. Other than his collections, Tagore will always be remembered for composing the National Anthems of two nations. For India, the Jana

For the queer community in India, instant hate has become a lingering problem on Instagram. And there’s precious little that the social media platform can  —  or apparently will — do about it. Ask Indrajeet Ghorpade, founder of the digital LGBTQ awareness platform,  Yes, We Exist . On June 5, Ghorpade hosted an event on  Instagram Live  event encouraging the queer community in India to share their best coming out experiences. “It is to give a safe space (to the queer community) and allow other audience members to come out to their friends and families and live authentic lives,” he says. Within minutes, his live video was flooded with homophobic, transphobic, and hateful comments from over 30 users in an apparently coordinated attack. There was no option for the Live host to report these comments and block these accounts during the Live session. After it ended, he used screenshots to find the trolls, block them, and file a cybercrime complaint. Reporting these accounts to Instagram

The results of the Joint Entrance Examination Main (JEE Main) 2021 third session were declared by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Friday, 6 August. The results were available for the JEE Main 2021 session 3 candidates on the websites  jeemain.nta.nic.in/ and ntaresults.nic.in . Among the many students who attempted the exam, a record high of 17 candidates obtained a full 100 percentile score in their much-awaited results this year. Despite the link being available for checking the results of JEE Mains 2021 session 3, candidates were facing technical glitches on the website. Many of the troubled candidates complained on Twitter that they could not access their scorecards using the link. Reportedly, as the results were declared on the official website, the NTA website crashed. Many who could log in after some time have also faced errors. Let’s take a look at the reactions of students: Is this only happening with me ? Jee Mains Result #JEEMains #jeeresult @DG_NTA pic.twitte

The preliminary results of the Engineering Service Examination (ESE) have been declared by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The results were declared by the commission on 6 August. UPSC ESE prelims exam was conducted on 18 July this year. UPSC ESE candidates can visit the website https://upsc.gov.in/ to check their results. Here are the steps that UPSC ESE candidates can take to check their prelims results: Step 1: Visit the official website https://upsc.gov.in/ Step 2: On the homepage, click on the option ‘Written Results’ Step 3: A new page will open. Click on Examination Written Results Step 4: Once the new window opens, click on the PDF link next to Engineering Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2021. The prelims results will get downloaded Step 5: Check for roll number in the UPSC ESE prelims results You can also click on this direct link and check for your roll number —  https://upsc.gov.in/sites/default/files/WR-ESE-P-2021-Roll-Engl-060821.pdf The aspira

The endless debate on the future of the Congress Party reminds me of the breathless arguments over the prospects of the Indian Left in the 1990s which ultimately ended in tears for it and its supporters. Nobody even talks about the Left anymore. In some ways, the Congress today is worse off than the Left was at the time, and if I were a betting man I would hesitate to take a punt on its revival. Yet, many of my fellow liberals are scrambling to reform and revive it, or whatever is left of it. I have no doubt that they are prompted by genuine concerns, not least the glaring absence of anything resembling a viable national opposition that could challenge the government and offer an alternative vision to the country. But the idea that a party that is barely breathing and appears to have effectively lost the will to live can be suddenly revived and readied to take on the BJP’s well-oiled election machine at the next general election—less than three years away—is a fantasy devoid of any r

Developing countries account for a high burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and are home to a higher number of premature deaths from NCDs. Therefore, NCDs have become an integral part of the global developmental agenda. As active cases of COVID-19 in India have dropped by a significant amount, the country needs to bring its focus back to NCD care. Over the past few decades, India has seen a rise in the number of NCD cases. A survey report that covered 2,33,672 people and 673 public health offices in 21 states in the country stated that the burden of NCDs in India is long-lasting as 65 percent of the country’s population is below 35 years of age. Changing lifestyles, urbanization, pollution and aging populations are all significantly linked to increases in the number of non-communicable diseases like cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, cancers among others. These are the diseases that account for 71 percent of the deaths globally. While in the last decade India

Petrol prices remained unchanged in the country for the 21st day on Saturday while diesel rates also did not go up. In Delhi, petrol prices remained at Rs 101.84 a litre while the rate of diesel was at Rs 89.87. In Mumbai, petrol can be bought at Rs 107.83 per litre and diesel costs Rs 97.45 for one litre. One litre of petrol is priced at Rs 102.49 in Chennai and diesel costs Rs 94.39 per litre in the city. Petrol in Kolkata costs Rs 102.08 per litre and diesel is priced at Rs 93.02. While petrol can be bought at Rs 110.20 in Bhopal and diesel is priced at Rs 98.67 for one litre. 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 implemented at 6 am every day. States and cities have different fuel p

The National Board of Examinations (NBE) has released a new notification and made an announcement regarding the all-India National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-Postgraduate (NEET-PG) exam 2021 today. The board has announced that the registration and correction window for NEET PG 2021 candidates will reopen on 16 August. The official notice states that the registration and correction window will remain open till 20 August. Aspirants can apply for the examination by visiting the official website -  nbe.edu.in . The NEET-PG examination is set to be held on 11 September  at around 800 centres in more than 260 cities across the country. The NBE has decided to reopen the registration and correction window following appeals from candidates. The decision comes just days after the Union government announced 27 percent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) and 10 percent for economically weaker sections (EWS) in the all India quota for NEET. Candidates who are already registered fo

The results of Class 10 (SSC) have been declared by the Board of Secondary Education, Andhra Pradesh (BSEAP) at 5 pm today during a press conference. Education Minister of the state A Suresh announced the results. All students have passed the BSEAP class 10 exams this year and results can be checked on the official website of the board — bse.ap.gov.in . The results this year have been released on the basis of an alternative evaluation criteria released by the board. Students were given grades instead of scores this year on the basis of quarterly, half yearly and bimonthly tests. As much as 70 percent weightage was given to the written tests. According to the officials, as many as 6,29,981 students have been graded as per the new system. This year, 3,04,036 girls and 3,22,945 boys have passed the BSEAP SSC (Class 10) exam. Last year, the pass percentage of AP Class 10 was 94.88 percent . A total of 6,32,898 students had registered for the SSC exam. Girl students had a pass percenta

The results of the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE) 2021 have been announced, Panchajanya Dey being declared as the topper. Candidates can now view their scores at the official website of the WBJEE Board - wbjeeb.nic.in . Of the 65,170 students who appeared for the WBJEE exam this year, 64,850 students have passed, taking the pass percentage to 99.5 The counselling process is expected to begin soon. Steps to check WBJEE 2021 scores: 1) Go to WBJEE Board's official website, wbjeeb.nic.in 2) Open the WBJEE result link available on the homepage 3) On the new page, enter your login details 4) Your WBJEE 2021 result will appear onscreen. Download and take a printout for future reference Here's the direct link:  examinationservices.nic.in/examsys21/root/downloadadmitcard.aspx?enc=Ei4cajBkK1gZSfgr53ImFZmyvPLZCrGNYoNLT8I+7a/Scml3H7PxWOwh+ZkMw8Ke The state-level entrance test for gaining admission in undergraduate (UG) courses in Engineering and Technology, Pharm

Former Union Minister Sushma Swaraj was known as an eloquent orator and parliamentarian. On 6 August 2019, Swaraj died of cardiac arrest at the age of 67. Friday marked the second death anniversary of the woman who was full of compassion and went beyond the call of duty to help people in need. Born in Haryana, Swaraj graduated from Sanatan Dharma College, Ambala Cantt. She did her Bachelors in Law from Punjab University, Chandigarh. At the young age of 25, she became a cabinet minister for labour and employment in Haryana in 1977. Swaraj used Twitter as the only medium to communicate with common people and to resolve complaints. Sometimes people asked her silly question on the microblogging site, and she always responded to such tweets with wit and humour. Below are five of her tweets that grabbed attention across the country: Once a man from India, who was based in Malaysia, urged Swaraj to help send his friend back to the country. Despite his urgent plea, the man was brutally tr

India and China have agreed to disengage in eastern Ladakh's Gogra area where they have been locked in a military standoff since May 2020, the Indian Army said on Friday. The disengagement is a major peace-building step aimed at mending frayed ties between the two neighbouring countries. After Gogra, the remaining military standoffs in eastern Ladakh are Depsang and Hot Springs. Disengagements have been announced earlier for the north and south banks of Pangong Tso, and Galwan. India and China, which held their 12th round of military-level talks on 31 July at the Chushul-Moldo meeting point in eastern Ladakh, "had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on resolution of remaining areas related to disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC)," the army said in a press release. "As an outcome of the meeting, both sides agreed on disengagement in the area of Gogra. The troops in this area have been in a face-off situation since May last year," the releas

The domestic market indices on Friday, 6 August , opened flat. At 9.15 am, BSE Sensex was trading at 54,492.17. Around the same time, NSE Nifty50 index gained 9.80 points, or 0.06 percent and was at 16,304.40. Sectors like IT and pharma were under pressure while there were gains in auto stocks, metals and banks. At the closing bell , Sensex was down by 215.12 points or 0.39 percent and closed at 54,277.72. On the other hand, Nifty was at 16,238.20 and lost 56.40 points or 0.35 percent. The Reserve Bank of India's announced the outcome of its bi-monthly monetary policy Friday. The repo rate has remained unchanged at 4 percent and the reverse repo rate is at 3.35 percent. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) BSE Sensex closed at 54,277.72 with a loss of 215.12 points or 0.39 percent. The top gainers were IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, Maruti and NTPC. The top laggards were Reliance, UltraTech Cement, SBI, Tata Steel and HDFC. Top BSE Sensex gainers: IndusInd Bank: The

The woman from Lucknow, who had recently grabbed headlines after slapping a cab driver at a traffic signal in the city's Krishna Nagar area, has gone viral again. Just a week after that incident, another video has surfaced online where the woman, identified as Priyadarshini, can be seen arguing with her neighbours for painting the wall of their house black. In the recent video, the woman can be heard urging a police officer to order the neighbour to redo or re-paint the black colour of the wall to something "anti-black". According to her, the black paint can attract "international drones" which can put the lives of others in danger. “ Aap aaj sabke saamne boliye inse ki ye apne ghar ko, jo kaala inhone paint kar rakha hai, usse anti-black karayien. Kyun, kyunki yaha pe international drones ghoomte hain aur inki vajah se puri colony walo ki life khatre me hai (Please tell these people to paint their house anti-black. International drones have been spotted in