Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 6 (ANI): Lyricist Javed Akhtar was honoured with the prestigious Dostoevsky Star Award for his remarkable influence on cultural heritage and literary dialogue on Friday. Taking to her Instagram handle, Shabana Azmi, wife of Javed Akhtar, shared the snaps from the award ceremony, featuring the renowned lyricist accepting the award from the dignitaries from the Russian House. Also Read | 'Sitaare Zameen Par' a Fan Boy's Love Letter to Aamir Khan, Says Director ...Read More
NEW DELHI: The Union government on Friday rolled out the UMEED portal -- a centralised digital platform that makes geo-tagging of every Waqf property mandatory -- to create the country's first comprehensive online inventory of community-owned assets. UMEED, short for Unified Waqf Management, Empowerment, Efficiency and Development, allows real-time uploading, verification and monitoring of records. Key features include GIS mapping, transparent leasing and usage tracking, and an online grievance...Read More
DIMAPUR, JUNE 6 (MExN): Amid a recent uptick in COVID-19 cases across the country, the Union Health Ministry has held a series of high-level review meetings to assess the situation and reinforce public health preparedness among States and Union Territories. The technical review meetings, held on June 2 and 3, were chaired by Dr. Sunita Sharma, Director General of Health Services (DGHS), and included key representatives from the Disaster Management Cell, Emergency Management Response (EMR) Cell,...Read More
Patna (Bihar) [India] June 6 (ANI): Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi attended the 'Samvidhan Sabha' in Rajgir, Nalanda, on Friday. Addressing the gathering, Gandhi emphasised the need for a caste census and criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stance on the issue. He questioned PM Modi's claim of being an OBC while asserting that the BJP denies the existence of caste in India, emphasising the need for a genuine caste census. 'Narendra Modi used to say in ever...Read More
Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], June 6 (ANI): Reiterating his attack on the Centre over Census and Delimitation, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, on Friday, said that the Census delay is 'no accident' and the delimitation plan is 'no coincidence'. Despite the assurance from Home Minister Amit Shah, CM Stalin asserted that a clear parliamentary commitment and a suitable constitutional amendment are what are needed to address the concerns of southern states on delimitation. 'The #Census delay ...Read More
Kota, Jun 6 (PTI) A relationship manager in an ICICI bank branch in Kota allegedly swindled around Rs 4.58 crore from customers' accounts only to lose the lot of it in the stock market, police on Friday said. She was arrested last week and is currently under judicial custody, they said. Also Read | Bengaluru Stampede: Police Complaint Lodged Against Virat Kohli Over Stampede Tragedy Near Chinnaswamy Stadium. The accused, Sakshi Gupta, was posted as a relationship manager at ICICI Bank's DCM b...Read More
Gangtok, June 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) At least 80 tourists stranded in the northern part of Sikkim due to inclement weather and landslides have been safely evacuated, an official said on Friday. A total of four helicopter sorties were conducted from Pakyong Greenfield Airport to Chaten using MI-02, MI-49, and MI-39 helicopters, resulting in the evacuation of 80 individuals. Among those evacuated, 63 persons were tourists, while 17 were locals. To ensure their further travel to Gangtok, the state go...Read More
New Delhi, June 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) India and five Central Asian countries on Friday expressed interest in joint exploration of rare earth and critical minerals, as New Delhi aims to reduce dependence on shipments from China, which has curbed the exports of rare earth materials. It was conveyed during the 4th meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue held in New Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. Appreciating the outcomes of the first India-Central Asia Rare Earth For...Read More
Katra: Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Jammu and Kashmir on Friday to inaugurate multiple rail projects, including the world's highest Chenab Rail Bridge, the Anji Khad Bridge, and the Katra-Srinagar Vande Bharat Express, as part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link. These railway projects directly connect Jammu and Kashmir to the rest of the country. The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link is an all-weather railway corridor designed to provide seamless connectivity to the region...Read More
Rajgir/Gayaji (Bihar), Jun 6 (PTI) Rejecting outright the 50 per cent cap on caste-based reservations, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday vowed that "the barrier will be broken" in whichever part of the country his party came to power. The Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha made the promise in Bihar, the state which was a hotbed of the Mandal agitation in the 1990s, and where polls to the assembly are likely in a few months. "I wonder where did this idea of a 50 per cent cap come from? ...Read More
Chennai, Jun 6 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday alleged that there is a "sinister design" in the BJP-led union government's implementation of the Census and delimitation exercises. Alleging that the Census delay was no accident and that the delimitation plan was no coincidence, the Chief Minister said, "the danger I warned of is at our doorstep." In a social media post, he said: "There is a sinister design in how the BJP-led Union Government is implementing the national Cens...Read More
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Trade talks between Indian and U.S. officials have been extended into next week as both sides seek consensus on tariff cuts in the farming and auto sectors, aiming to finalise an interim deal before a July 9 deadline, Indian government sources said. A U.S. delegation led by senior officials from the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) held two days of discussions in New Delhi with Indian trade officials headed by chief negotiator Rajesh Agrawal, the sour...Read More
NEW DELHI, June 6 (Reuters) - Trade talks between Indian and U.S. officials have been extended into next week as both sides seek consensus on tariff cuts in the farming and auto sectors, aiming to finalise an interim deal before a July 9 deadline, Indian government sources said. A U.S. delegation led by senior officials from the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) held two days of discussions in New Delhi with Indian trade officials headed by chief negotiator Rajesh Agrawal,...Read More
INDIA: The steep valleys and verdant mountains of Jammu & Kashmir were tied more tightly into the Indian transport network when Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally flagged off the first through train from Katra to Srinigar on June 6. Speaking at the celebration at Katra station before the specially decorated Vande Bharat inter-city trainset began its journey, Modi said the 'inauguration of mega infrastructure projects marks a turning point in Jammu & Kashmir's development journey'. He then...Read More
Chennai: The delay in announcing the census and the subsequent redrawing of constituencies are not accidental. "The danger I have been warning about since the beginning has arrived at our doorstep", said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin. In a post on X, he said, "There is a sinister design in how the BJP-led Union Government is implementing the national Census and the subsequent developed states, especially in the non-Hindi speaking South, which followed population control norms, will now be...Read More
NEW DELHI (AP) -- India has granted a key license to Elon Musk's Starlink, bringing the satellite provider a step closer to launching its commercial internet services in the country, a top Indian government official said on Friday. "Yes. License has been granted," said the official with direct knowledge of the matter at the department of telecommunications. The official declined to be identified because the information isn't public....Read More
New Delhi: The Congress party has backed Karnataka chief minister K Siddaramaiah who is under fire from the BJP after the tragic stampede outside Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru in which at least 11 persons were killed and around 60 others were injured. Congress alleged that the saffron party is playing dirty politics over the tragedy that unfolded during the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team's celebrations after their first-ever IPL victory earlier this week. Ever since the incident, th...Read More
Rajgir, June 06 (UNI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said US President Donald Trump had claimed eleven times that he forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi to surrender during operation Sindoor, but he did not contradict it and remained silent. Gandhi, while addressing a conference organised by his party here, said that PM Modi had the habit of surrender. Trump had claimed eleven times that he forced Modi to surrender during the operation Sindoor carried out recently, but the latter did no...Read More
Hyderabad: The Union government announced on June 4 that it will conduct the long-pending nationwide census, starting on March 1, 2027, as the reference point. It is one of the most ambitious exercises undertaken by any democracy, as the nation's population according to the 2011 census was 121 crore (1.21 billion). Though it was supposed to be done in 2021, COVID caused a delay that extended to 6 years. The 2027 census would also take into account caste, an issue that has been politically conten...Read More
New Delhi: Just as the Bharatiya Janata Party completes 100 days in power in Delhi, reports have surfaced that chief minister Rekha Gupta will soon shift from her private residence in Shalimar Bagh to government-allotted bungalow at the Raj Niwas Marg in Civil Lines, where her other Cabinet colleagues have been allotted residences. The renovation work of her official residence is underway in full swing. It is pertinent to mention here that this residence allotted to CM Gupta is not the same con...Read More
Ahmedabad, Jun 6 (PTI) Gujarat Congress general secretary Rajesh Soni was arrested on Friday and charged under a tough section of the BNS for allegedly uploading "misleading" as well as "morale breaking" content on a social media platform related to 'Operation Sindoor', police said. After registration of an FIR on Thursday, the Cyber Crime Cell of the state CID arrested Soni in the wee hours over his controversial posts on the operation launched by Indian armed forces to destroy terror hubs in ...Read More
New Delhi, June 6: Elon Musk's Starlink has received a GMPCS license from the Indian government to operate and provide its satellite internet services in India. The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) granted this satcom license to a SpaceX-owned company after it fulfilled all its security compliance requirements as per the letter of intent (LoI). Elon Musk's Starlink became the third company after Eutelsat's OneWeb and Reliance Jio to offer its services in the country after securing the Glob...Read More
India's electric vehicle (EV) sector is staring at a potential supply chain crisis as China's tightening export controls on rare earth magnets threaten to disrupt the production of critical EV components, according to a recent Jefferies report. The report highlights that several Indian companies are struggling to import magnets -- crucial for EV motors -- from China, which dominates over 90 per cent of the world's magnet supply. With existing inventories depleting fast, Indian manufacturers fear...Read More
Jammu, June 6: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has condemned Pakistan, stating it is the enemy of brotherhood, 'Insaniyat (humanity)' and Kashmiriyat, and that by executing the Pahalgam attack, it aimed to incite communal riots in India. PM Modi was in Jammu on Friday, where he inaugurated a slew of projects, including two state-of-the-art bridges and the Vande Bharat train. He addressed a gathering in the Katra town, which he started by offering obeisance to Mata Vaishno Devi in the Dogri language...Read More
Mumbai, June 6: Effective January 1, 2026, the Indian government-approved 8th Pay Commission is scheduled to update the salaries and pensions of more than 1 crore central employees and pensioners. The fitment factor may increase from 2.57 to 2.86, which could raise the minimum basic wage from INR 18,000 to INR 51,480 and the pensions from INR 9,000 to INR 25,740. The pay scale for government workers is expected to undergo major changes as a result of the 8th Pay Commission. It is anticipated to...Read More
New Delhi, June 6: India's active Covid case tally crossed the 5,000 mark with Kerala remaining the most affected state followed by Gujarat, West Bengal and Delhi, according to the Union Health Ministry data released on Friday. In view of the increase in cases, the Centre is conducting mock drills to check facility-level preparedness for COVID-19. All states have been instructed to ensure availability of oxygen, isolation beds, ventilators, and essential medicines in view of rising cases of Covi...Read More
Jammu: In a big push for infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated key projects, including the Chenab rail bridge. During the inauguration ceremony, PM Modi took a walk on the bridge, built above the Chenab River, with 'Tiranga' in hand. The moments captured everyone's attention amid the launch of a slew of projects. The video of the Prime Minister waving the national flag at the world's highest bridge also surfaced online and soon went viral. PM Mo...Read More
New Delhi: In an open letter sharply condemning the detention and alleged expulsion to Bangladesh of a number of people declared foreigners by tribunals in Assam as a violation of their rights, a group of activists, lawyers and academics has urged the government to stop such expulsions and allow the return of those sent across the border. Dozens of those expelled to Bangladesh reportedly have appeals against their declaration as foreigners pending in the Supreme Court, the letter noted. "Pushba...Read More
NEW DELHI: Starlink, led by Elon Musk, has received a Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) license in India, allowing the company to begin offering broadband services in the country. It is the third company to receive such a license from India's Department of Telecommunications, following approvals granted to Eutelsat's OneWeb and Reliance Jio. This development marks the formal entry of Elon Musk, the world's richest man, into India's communications services sector. Starli...Read More
MUMBAI, India -- India's central bank cut interest rates more than expected on Friday. For this, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cited muted inflation and a need to kickstart economic growth. This happened as the impact of US tariffs weighed on the country's outlook. The RBI lowered the benchmark repo rate, the level at which it lends to commercial banks. This went down by 50 basis points to 5.5 percent. A majority of analysts had expected a 25-basis-point reduction. The cut was RBI's third i...Read More