RIVANCH

Not very long ago, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti gave an ultimatum to the Centre, saying it only had three ways to keep Kashmir: Return Article 370 along with interest, talk to Pakistan, and address the Kashmir issue. “If they (Centre) want to keep Jammu & Kashmir with them, they have to restore Article 370, hold dialogue with Pakistan, and resolve the Kashmir issue,” she said. Mufti is not alone. The Abdullahs — currently both Farooq and Omar, and in the past the late Sheikh Abdullah — have perfected the art of running with India and hunting with Pakistan and China. Till 2014, they were an integral part of Lutyens’ Delhi, projecting themselves as nationalists, but the moment they found themselves out of power, they took a drastically opposite stand, going to the extent of seeking China’s help to restore Article 370. Interestingly, the Abdullahs’ fascination with China is not new. In 1965, the year India was busy figh

The Western media’s anti-India bias that borders on racism and its brazenly hostile agenda against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government he heads is well-known. The relentless targeted attacks on India and its government by way of perverse reportage on the COVID-19 pandemic reflect this bias and agenda. This was most evident during the second wave when ‘news stories’ in the Western media became a grotesque caricature of human tragedy as the pandemic which originated in China savaged India. It was a nonstop morbid display of callous insensitivity, including towards Hindu funeral rites. By now there is a certain familiarity to this racially repugnant coverage of, and commentary on, India by the Western media. Bloomberg ’s recent screed (“How errors and inaction sent a deadly COVID variant around the world”) which blames India for the devastation wrought by the Delta variant globally, validates how the Western media is increasingly perceived in India. The sum total of the fac

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Meerut in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday and lay the foundation stone of Major Dhyan Chand Sports University at around 1 pm. As per an official statement issued by Prime Minister's Office, the university will be established at Salawa and Kaili villages of Sardhana town in Meerut at an estimated cost of about Rs 700 Crore. The establishment of Major Dhyan Chand Sports University at Meerut will be a major step towards fulfilling this vision, PMO said. The Sports University will be equipped with modern and state-of-the-art sports infrastructure including synthetic hockey ground, football ground, basketball, volleyball, handball, kabaddi ground, lawn tennis court, gymnasium hall, synthetic running stadium, swimming pool, multipurpose hall, and a cycling velodrome. It will also house facilities for shooting, squash, gymnastics, weightlifting, archery, canoeing, and kayaking, among other facilities with the capacity of training 1,080 sportspersons inc

The US is a global power—militarily the strongest, technologically the most advanced, besides being the world’s largest economy. It has shaped the post Second World War order according to its needs. It believes in the universality of its values and its exceptionalism is interventionist and controls in many ways the international political and financial institutions. It extends its domestic law to foreign countries as necessary to achieve its foreign policy goals, using the threat of sanctions to obtain compliance. The status of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency gives the US tremendous financial clout through the control it exercises on all global financial transactions in dollars. It can block foreign funds, limit access to its capital markets and impact the world with its monetary policies. America’s military power was challenged by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. After the Soviet Union’s collapse, the Russian challenge has diminished. The US looks upon Russia today

Your daily dose of astrological predictions is here! Under Saturday’s skies, many zodiac signs will witness new projects and deals in the coming days. Many will make New Year resolutions that will help them in the future while people waiting to get married may finally get to say their vows. Tip for the day – Begin the new year with hope and happiness so that each of you have good days to see. Meanwhile, check your horoscope here Aries: (21 March - 19 April): On the first day of the year, you should avoid starting any new work or job. Also, you will fail to achieve the appropriate results of your hard work as the stars are not with you today. Furthermore, people will ridicule you at the workplace, but you should ignore this and remain focused on your goal. Also, Aries will be worried about their life partners. Taurus: (20 April - 20 May): People with this zodiac sign may have to travel for job-related purposes in the coming days. Today is a favourable day for high-ranking officers

Ordering food off Zomato and Swiggy may burn a bigger hole in your pocket from 1 January. Starting 1 January, the food delivery apps will be liable to pay five percent of Goods and Services Tax on their restaurant services, per government orders. This new charge may be offloaded to the users of these aggregators — that means you. What’s cooking? The GST Council in its 45th meeting in September had recommended that food delivery apps should be made liable to pay five percent tax. Following this, the finance ministry issued a circular to announce that the new rule will come into effect starting 1 January. Services provided by cloud kitchens or central kitchens also come under the ambit of restaurant service and attract five percent GST. The government believes this move will curb tax evasions by restaurants, which, before the new GST rules come into effect, are responsible for collecting and depositing GST. Estimates showed a loss to the exchequer from the alleged under-reporting

In yet another collaboration with the private industry, the Defence Research and Development Organisation [DRDO] on Tuesday handed over the technology for the development of an extreme cold winter clothing system [ECWCS] to five Indian companies. The firms are Delhi-based M/s RHD Business Services India Pvt. Ltd and M/s SBNX Innovation [OPC] Pvt. Ltd, Coimbatore-based M/s Shiva Texyarn Limited, M/s Kusumgar Corporates Pvt. Ltd from Mumbai and M/s Ginni Filaments Limited in Mathura. The technology was developed by the Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences [DIPAS] of DRDO and is particularly critical at a time when India is locked in a military standoff with China at the Line of Actual Control—and soldiers continue to be deployed in the forward areas of eastern Ladakh through the peak winters when the temperatures dip to about minus 30 degrees Celsius. Earlier this year, the Army had projected an annual requirement of 50,000 to 90,000 sets of extreme cold-weather clothin

A day after China renamed 15 places in Arunachal Pradesh, New Delhi said that “invented names” did not change the fact that the state has been and always will be an integral part of India. India’s reaction came in response to Beijing announcing Chinese names for 15 more places in Arunachal Pradesh which the neighbouring country claims as South Tibet. “We have seen such. This is not the first time China has attempted such a renaming of places in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. China had also sought to assign such names in April 2017,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said. China claims that Arunachal Pradesh is “South Tibet” – an area that falls under its administrative control. Last year, the country had said that it did not recognise Arunachal Pradesh as a part of India. Bagchi was responding to a media query on reports that China has renamed some places in Arunachal Pradesh in its own language. China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs announced on Wednesday that i

After 15 days, Delhi’s resident doctors — who have been refusing to offer medical services — have decided to call off their strike today. The resident doctors in Delhi, who were protesting over the delay in NEET-PG counselling and alleged manhandling of doctors by the police , said they will resume work from 12 pm on Friday. Dr. Manish, president FORDA says patients are already suffering, many surgeries deferred. Considering this situation they are calling off the strike at 12pm today. pic.twitter.com/lYoss95wue — ANI (@ANI) December 31, 2021 “The strike has been called off. We will rejoin work at 12 pm. We had a meeting with the joint commissioner of police (CP) last night where he gave instructions to cancel the FIR. As for the NEET-PG, we have been assured that the court clearance will come during the 6 January hearing,” said Dr Manish Kumar, president, Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA). Resident doctors in the National Capital have been protesting for the

The Narcotics Control Bureau Mumbai Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede's tenure ends today, 31 December. Wankhede, a 2008-batch IRS officer had been on deputation with the NCB since September 2020. As he bids adieu to the NCB, here's a look at his tenure, which was marked with a series of controversies, including his public spat with Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik. Please read: Sameer Wankhede, top NCB officer behind Mumbai cruise drugs bust, has Bollywood connection of his own Aryan Khan arrest and drug investigation No case garnered as much attention as the arrest of Aryan Khan, the son of Shah Rukh Khan, in the drug raid. The case brought a lot of attention to Sameer Wankhede. It was him and his team that allegedly recovered drugs during a raid on a cruise ship off the Mumbai coast in October, following which Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan was arrested with seven others. During the course of the investigation, several allegations were le

Countries are going into fresh curfews and restrictions are coming back again amid fresh surges under the shadow of the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus. Public authorities everywhere are worried about health systems buckling under a load of severe cases, something that the likes of India especially can ill afford after the second wave in the middle of 2021 showed the kind of devastation that can occur if cases shoot up all of a sudden. But some have sought comfort in the theory that Omicron, even if more transmissible, causes a milder infection than the Delta variant. The view that the immune system — prepped via either recovery from infection, or vaccination — can tackle the new variant has found support in a South African study that credits T-cells with putting up a robust defence against Omicron. But what are T cells? What Has The Study Found? Researchers in South Africa, which was the first to report the emergence of a new variant with an unprecedented number of mutatio

Tamil Nadu has had a very wet year and on the last day of 2021, the situation was no different as parts of Chennai and surrounding districts experienced very heavy rainfall , throwing life out of gear. The sudden heavy rains on Thursday left three people dead and several others stranded on arterial roads as a result of traffic congestion. After the downpour started to intensify, the India Meteorological Department issued a red alert warning to Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kanchipuram, and Chengalpattu districts. Take a look at the times when the city and the state experienced very heavy showers. December floods Parts of Chennai witnessed heavy rains on Thursday, 30 December. Popular weather blogger Pradeep John said that the rainfall was unprecedented with many areas like Nungambakkam, Mambalam and MRC Nagar receiving over 100 mm in a short span of time. Mylapore crosses 200 mm. One of the craziest spells of lifeime. Chennai City (Nunga) beats 2015 annual rainfall More clouds blooming

Indian Railways is in full swing to launch the bullet train on the Varanasi-Howrah route. The bullet train will pass through many cities of Bihar and Jharkhand. According to railway authorities, the high speed train will connect five cities of Bihar. An official announcement is expected soon. After the announcement of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project the demand for the same in Bihar was increasing. The proposed Varanasi-Howrah high speed rail corridor will be laid through the Varanasi-Patna-Bardhaman-Howrah route. It is expected that this corridor will pass through Buxar, Arrah, Patna, Bihar Sharif and Nawada cities of Bihar. The survey for the 760 kilometre Varanasi-Howrah high speed rail corridor was undertaken in October. Survey was also conducted in the Dhanbad section in Jharkhand. The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited is planning the route for this upcoming project. The speed of the bullet train will be 350 km per hour, which will help to complete this l

It's a high India would have loved not to end the year on, but 2021 has registered biggest margin of drop in tiger numbers in a decade at more than 120 of the big cats having fallen prey to everything from poachers and accidents to natural causes with man-animal conflict, too, extracting a toll. India is home to a third of the global tiger population and the country's success in saving the big cat is crucial to global efforts to protect their numbers. Here's what you need to know. How many tigers does India have? According to the Union environment ministry, the fourth round of the country-level assessment done in 2018 showed that the estimated tiger population stood at 2,967. That marks an improvement over the last such estimate, put together in 2014, when the country was said to be home to 2,226 tigers. India now accounts for 75 percent of the global tiger population "owing to its long history of conserving the species through Project Tiger", the ministry tol

The Karunya Plus KN-401 lottery results will be announced by the Kerala State Lottery Department at 3 pm today, 30 December. Interested individuals can check the KN-401 lottery results, once they are out, at the official website at https://ift.tt/2K4yhLe. The first prize of the Karunya Plus KN-401 will amount to Rs 80 lakh. The winner of the KN-401 second prize will take home Rs 10 lakh while the third prize winner will get Rs 1 lakh, according to MoneyControl. The Karunya Plus KN-401 lottery draw will also have the fourth prize of Rs 5,000. The lottery draw will also give the fifth prize of Rs 1,000, the sixth prize of Rs 500 and the seventh prize of Rs 100. Certain lucky KN-401 prize winners will also take home a consolation prize of Rs 8,000. Here is how to check the Karunya Plus KN-401 lottery results: Visit the official Kerala lottery website at https://ift.tt/2K4yhLe Click on the link for the Karunya Plus KN-401 results that is given on the page The Karunya Plus KN-401 re

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju recently posted a video sharing an important advisory on travelling to Arunachal Pradesh. In the footage, shared on 26 December, Rijiju is seen pushing a car that got stuck in the middle of a snow-filled road. Keeping in mind the celebratory plans that tourists make during around New Year, the Union Minister shared a few cautionary tips for the people travelling to Tawang. “Advise to tourists visiting Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh at this point of time. It is reported that heavy snowfall between Baishakhi, Sela Pass and Nuranang, ” Rijiju tweeted. He also advised people to gather proper information before going to Arunachal as the road is extremely dangerous and the temperature goes down to -25 degrees at times. Advise to tourists visiting Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh at this point of time. It is reported heavy snow fall between Baishakhi, Sela Pass and Nuranang. Pls get proper information before you move because the road is extremely dengerous to drive an

A case of a missing 17-year-old girl in Bengaluru has drawn attention on Twitter as the helpless parents believe that the teen, who has disappeared since 31 October, may have come under the influence of shamanism. This incident has now raised questions about the practice of Shamanism. The missing teen According to an NDTV report, 17-year-old Anushka left her home in Bengaluru with two pairs of clothes and Rs 2,500 in cash. Two months later, neither her parents, nor do the police have any clue where she is. Her parents have said that Anushka was a regular teen, but in days prior to her disappearance she had become a recluse. "I took her to a counsellor. The behavioural changes we saw was she stopped talking to us, she was keeping to herself, restricted herself from household activities" Abhishek, her father was quoted as telling NDTV . ⚠️ MISSING GIRL! ⚠️ Please share max! 17 year old Anushka has been missing from home, originally from Bangalore, and her loved ones are