RIVANCH

New Delhi: Citing Indian motor vehicle’s law which prohibits private vehicles from being used in commercial activities, the state government on Tuesday banned bike taxis in Delhi. A government notice in this regards says a fine of up to 100,000 rupees ($1,208) may also be imposed on “digital providers” such as Uber, Ola and Rapido, facilitating such operations. There has been no response from the taxi apps yet. A bike taxi is a popular mean of transport in Delhi as it helps people specially office goers in reducing the travel time in the slow moving traffic in Delhi. Hundreds of people who earn from ferrying passengers on their personal bikes may also get jobless due to this. Some of the drivers in Delhi who were impacted by the prohibition were interviewed by the Indian Express newspaper, and they stated that they would struggle to get by without the extra money. It’s not the first time that motorcycle taxis have run into legal issues. Rapido’s motorbike taxis were denied lice...

Get your air conditioners ready, pack up the woolies, as India is welcoming a hot, hot summer. This is surprising for India, as not even a month ago half of the country was reeling under a cold wave. The month of February has already seen a drastic rise in temperatures, with some parts of the country already running ahead of the curve as far as the onset of summer is concerned. And, if you think that this rise in temperatures is temporary, brace yourself as an even hotter March is a foregone conclusion. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has already issued its first heatwave alert for the Konkan and Kutch regions and relief is only expected by the middle of the week. Incidentally, this alert comes much earlier than usual, as heatwave alerts usually begin in March, and may suggest that India could skip the spring season entirely and enter directly into summer. We take a look at just how hot it is across the country and what could be the repercussions of an early summer. Mahar...

Sydney: Taking a dig at George Soros for his recent comments criticising India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Saturday termed the billionaire investor as ‘old, rich, opinionated and dangerous’ On Thursday, Soros, speaking ahead of the Munich Security Conference, said that India was a democracy but Modi was not a democrat. Jaishankar told a conference in Sydney on Saturday that Soros’s comments were typical of a “Euro-Atlantic view”. He said there was “a debate and conversation that we must have on democracy”, including whose values defined democracy as the world rebalanced and became less Euro-Atlantic. Jaishankar was responding to a question about Soros at the Raisina@Sydney conference. Calling Soros “old, rich, opinionated and dangerous”, he said that when people with necessary resources have such views “they actually invest in shaping narratives,” India’s voters decided “how the country should run,” he added. “It worries us...

New Delhi: An ‘activist’ short-seller, itself under the lens of investigative agencies, targets the FPO of an Indian firm. The Indian Left and bleeding-heart liberals break into jubilation. A lot goes around, including Rahul Gandhi trying hard to sound serious and impressive in the Parliament. Nothing much comes of it. Next comes the mother of all aviation deals in history—Air India, Airbus, Boeing and engine-maker Rolls Royce work out a mammoth pact for passenger aircraft. US President Joe Biden, UK premier Rishi Sunak, French head of state Emmanuel Macron hail India for coming to their aid and saving their economies from dire straits. The headlines have changed. Rahul Gandhi, his Bharat Jodo Yatra having turned out to be a damp squib, then attacks PM Modi for playing favourites in business and industry. That too falls flat, as the world talks about India as the brightest spot in these difficult economic times when most of Europe and the US are in the economic doldrums with no en...

New Delhi: India’s ruling party, BJP, launched a scathing attack on billionaire investor George Soros and accused him of targeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the country’s democratic system. Addressing a press conference in national capital Delhi, Union Minister of India and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Smriti Irani said: “This war is being mounted against India and what stands between the war and India’s interests is Modi.” Soros wants to destroy Indian democracy Lambasting Soros, Irani alleged that he wants to destroy Indian democracy and wanted some “hand-picked” people to run the government in the country. “George Soros wants a government that is pliable to his needs for making his nefarious plans successful. It is evident from his statements that he has declared funding of over one billion dollars particularly to ‘target’ leaders like PM Modi, which is significant,” she said. The minister asserted that the ruling government in India has defeated foreign p...

Tigers are considered dominating creatures as they don’t prefer unnecessary trespassers inside their enclosure. However, in the case of forests and national parks, the scene is quite different. The big cats need to share the landscapes with other animals of which some are as deadly as them. Among other predators there, leopards can certainly be called the major competitor of a tiger. But the leopard, which is also part of the cat family, is superior in speed and flexibility. Recently, Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Susanta Nanda dropped a clip of a breathtaking face-off between a tiger and a leopard on Twitter. That is how leopard survives in a tiger dominated landscape😊 Tigers can easily climb trees,with their sharp and retractable claws providing a powerful grip to hold the tree trunk and climb up. But as they grow old their body weight prevents them to do so. Stay slim to survive🙏 pic.twitter.com/uePgSwIJcj — Susanta Nanda IFS (@susantananda3) February 14, 2023 The ...

New Delhi: India took a big step towards strengthening the defence of Ladakh against both China and Pakistan with the Union Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approving the construction of the world’s highest tunnel under the Shinkun La. The 4.1-km tunnel on the Manali-Darcha-Padam-Nimu road will pass under the Shinkun La – which lies at an altitude of 16703 feet – and will provide all-weather connectivity for the Indian Army to the Lac with China and the LoC with Pakistan in the border areas of Ladakh. An approach road is also scheduled to be completed by December 2025. Providing details of the cabinet decision, Union minister Anurag Thakur said the tunnel will be completed by December 2025 at a cost of Rs 1,681 crore. All-weather road to LoC, LAC in Ladakh “The tunnel under the Shinkun La is intended to provide all-weather road connectivity to Ladakh and this will be the shortest route to the border areas of the Union territory,” Anurag Thakur was quoted as saying by PT...