A total of 20,035 new infections were reported in a day, while the death toll increased to 1,48,994 with 256 new fatalities, the data updated at 8am showed. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 98,83,461 .
"The Modi government this year waived loans of Rs 2,37,876 crore of a few industrialists. With this amount, 11 crore families could have been provided Rs 20,000 each in these difficult Covid times. The truth about Modi ji's development," Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi. The Congress leader, who is currently travelling abroad, has been attacking the government for waiving of loans of industrialists and not providing cash aide to the poor during these difficult times.
Cold wave in North India will continue till January 2 and it will get intense from next week, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday. The weather department also predicted light rain in eastern Rajasthan, Delhi, western Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana between January 2 and 6.
India is likely to have a Covid-19 vaccine in the New Year, Drug Controller General of India V G Somani hinted on Thursday. Speaking at a webinar, Somani said the most important thing is that the industry and research organisations have stood the test of time.
A dry run for Covid-19 vaccination will be conducted by all state and union territory administrations on January 2 to test the linkages between planning and implementation and to identify the challenges, the Centre said on Thursday. The activity is proposed to be conducted in all state capitals in at least 3 session sites.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that preparations are underway to run the world's largest vaccination programme in the next year. He appealed to everyone to be careful regarding rumours and as responsible citizens refrain from forwarding messages on social media without checking.
The CBI on Thursday carried out searches at multiple locations in West Bengal including the premises of TMC leader Vinay Mishra, considered close to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee, in connection with the cattle smuggling case.
Thousands of farmers stayed put at their protest venues near Delhi's border on Thursday as their talks with the government remained deadlocked over the main contentious issues of the repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee for MSP.
India's Covid-19 caseload increased to 1,02,66,674 with 21,822 new infections being reported in a day, while the number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 98.60 lakh pushing the national recovery rate over 96 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.
Google on Thursday unveiled a doodle to mark the New Year's Eve. The doodle showed the letters of Google encased in colourful light with a symbolic cuckoo clock in the middle to announce the arrival of New Year's Eve. "It’s been a cuckoo year, but 2020’s clock is ticking," Google wrote.
Ten more returnees from Britain tested positive on Wednesday for the mutant variant of SARS-CoV-2 virus found in the UK, taking the tally of such patients in India to 17. With four cases each, Karnataka and Delhi accounted for 80% of the load of the new variant on Wednesday. One infection each was reported from Uttar Pradesh and Bengal.
As farmers' protest against three new farm laws continues, union leaders on Wednesday said peasants in some parts of the country are being forced to sell crops including paddy below the Minimum Support Price as market rates have fallen and asserted that the agitation will continue till the government agrees to their demands.
The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday said it has moved President Ramnath Kovind to remove Jagdeep Dhankhar from the post of the West Bengal governor, accusing him of "transgressing constitutional limits" by regularly commenting against the state administration and government in the public.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the release of ten women naval officers, who are seeking grant of permanent commission (PC), from the services as scheduled on December 31 this year.
The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Andhra Pradesh government on a plea challenging the pre-requisite condition of three years of practice as an advocate to be eligible to write Civil Judge Exam in Andhra Pradesh. A Bench headed by Justice Indira Banerjee also refuses to stay the Andhra Pradesh State Judicial Service Rules of 2007 which lays down the condition.
Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the farmers do not trust the prime minister due to his "long history of asatyagraha".
India's Covid-19 caseload rose to 1,02,44,852 with 20,549 new infections being reported in a day, while the number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 98.34 lakh pushing the national recovery rate to 95.99 per cent, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Wednesday.
China feels that it should control religious institution in Tibet and due to this a greater crisis will emerge with the eventual demise of 14th Dalai Lama as there will be a major power struggle over who will get to choose the religious leaders of Tibet, according to a report in Taiwan Times.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday took strong objection to remarks made by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month concerning protest by farmers on farm laws and said no leader of a country should speak about India's internal affairs.
Twenty people who returned to India from the United Kingdom have tested positive for the new UK variant genome of SARS-CoV-2 so far, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday. The tally includes six people who were found positive for the new virus strain on Tuesday.
Backing the "anti-conversion" legislation brought by Uttar Pradesh government, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that he personally does not support conversion for marriage. He was responding to a question about the misuse of "love-jihad law" enacted by the Uttar Pradesh government. Rajnath Singh is Lok Sabha MP from Lucknow.
India has the capability to hit terrorist targets across the border if the need arises, defence minster Rajanth Singh has said and noted that Pakistan has been indulging in notorious actions along the border since its creation. The minister said Pakistan has been resorting to 300-400 ceasefire violations in a few months but the Army gives a befitting reply.
Noting that farmers are "annadatas" and "backbone of the economy", Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday strongly disapproved of remarks such as "Naxals" or "Khalistanis" in the context of protesting farmers. He said that "allegations should not be made by anyone" against them. His remarks came ahead of scheduled talks between the farmers and the Centre today.
"There will be no reduction in our deployment and I fell their deployment will also not come down. I don't think that status quo is a positive development at all. Talks are on and they result in a positive outcome, that is our expectation," he added.
The strength of women personnel in state and Union Territory police forces registered a significant 16% jump last year, with their share rising to 10.3% as on January 1 this year (reflecting 2019 data) from 8.9% on January 1, 2019. Though the improvement is welcome, the cumulative percentage and numbers continue to reflect the male domination of police forces.
Political parties sure have good reasons to pursue individual goals, but rejection of communalism ought to be a shared value without which "we shall not be worthy heirs of Tagore and Netaji", Nobel laureate Amarta Sen has said. He said the Left and other secular parties in West Bengal have no less commitment than the ruling TMC to ensuring that communalism does not rear its ugly head in the state.
As part of the global Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project, the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) on Tuesday inaugurated the optics fabrication facility at its Centre for Research and Education in Science and Technology (CREST) campus in Hoskote, 35km northeast of Bengaluru.
Rajinikanth's elder brother on Tuesday backed the Tamil superstar's move to withdraw his decision to launch a political party. The 77-year-old R Sathyanarayana Rao said it's his brother's wish and one can't force him to change his mind.
On Sunday, Trump signed the Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2020 to modify and re-authorise various programmes and provisions related to Tibet. The bill reaffirms the right of Tibetans to choose a successor to the Dalai Lama and calls for establishing an American consulate in the country.
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