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Bhubaneswar: In a bid to maintain administrative continuity during the nationwide exercise, the Odisha government has prohibited the transfer of officers and staff involved in the upcoming Census 2027 until its completion in March 2027. Additional Chief Secretary of the Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Arabinda Kumar Padhee, has issued a formal directive to all departmental secretaries, heads of departments, district collectors, municipal commissioners, and chief census officers, outlining the operational guidelines and stressing the need for uninterrupted support. This move comes as the first phase of the Census 2027 -- India's first fully digital population count has already begun with the self-enumeration facility opening on April 1, 2026. The government has initiated extensive preparations to ensure accurate and efficient data collection across the state, aligning with the national schedule announced by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. Two-Phase Digital Process The census will be conducted in two distinct phases. Over 25,000 people in Odisha self-enumerated digitally on day one of the first phase of Census 2027 (House Listing and Housing Census), which will continue till the midnight of April 15. Odisha Governor Dr. Hari Babu Kambhampati launched the process by submitting his own household details online, urging residents to participate actively and contribute accurate information. This will be followed by the house-to-house enumeration by designated officials from April 16 to May 15. This phase focuses on collecting details about housing conditions, amenities, and household assets. Phase II (Population Enumeration) is scheduled for February 2027, with a reference date of March 1, 2027, for most parts of the country. This phase will gather individual-level data, including demographic particulars. Questions related to caste enumeration are expected to be notified before this phase begins. The entire process will leverage digital tools, including mobile applications for enumerators and a self-enumeration portal available in multiple languages, marking a significant technological upgrade from previous censuses.
Hyderabad: Principal Secretary to Government, Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MA&UD) department M Dana Kishore has been given full additional charge (FAC) for the post of principal secretary to the Governor. With Kishore taking charge, B Venkatesham, who was serving the post earlier, has been relieved, said a statement from chief secretary A Santhi Kumari. On December 2, Dana Kishore, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the 1996 batch, was appointed as the nodal officer tasked with coordinating efforts across various departments for projects related to the Osm ...Read More >
New Delhi, Jun 5 (PTI) The Population Fund of India on Thursday welcomed the 16th Census and called for "strong safeguards" to ensure that the count is "inclusive, accurate, and equity-focused." The Population Census-2027 with caste enumeration will be carried out in 2027 with the reference date of October 1, 2026, in snow-bound areas like Ladakh and on March 1, 2027, in the rest of the country. It has been decided to conduct the census in two phases, along with the enumeration of castes, the Union Home Ministry announced on Wednesday. "The Population Foundation of India welcomes the announc ...Read More >
Guwahati, Jun 5 (PTI) The Assam Congress on Thursday demanded a CBI inquiry into alleged illegal stone mining in Karbi Anglong district in violation of a Supreme Court order. Addressing a press conference here, former Rajya Sabha member Ripun Bora also alleged that Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council Chief Executive Member Tuliram Ronghang was allowing illegal activities in the district in nexus with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. "Large-scale illegal stone mining is taking place in the hills of Karbi Anglong in violation of the Supreme Court order. The SC had banned mining in and around K ...Read More >
NEW DELHI (AP) -- India will start counting its vast population in a mammoth exercise starting next year. The first census in 16 years will be conducted digitally and include controversial questions about caste for the first time since independence. The Home Ministry announced plans to conduct a two-stage count ending March 1, 2027, in a statement Wednesday night. India's last official census in 2011 counted 1.21 billion people. The country's population is now estimated to be well over 1.4 billion, making it the world's most populous country, according to the U.N.'s Department of Economic an ...Read More >
Ahmedabad, June 8 (SocialNews.XYZ) The MSC IRINA, recognised as the world's largest container ship by TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) capacity, is set to dock at the Adani Group's Vizhinjam International Seaport on Monday and will be berthed till Tuesday. The monumental arrival marks a significant milestone for the seaport, which was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 2. The MSC IRINA boasts an impressive capacity of 24,346 TEUs, making it a formidable player in global shipping. With a length of 399.9 metres and a width of 61.3 metres, the vessel is approximate ...Read More >
Mumbai: A day after leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi alleged "match fixing" between BJP and ECI, state Congress chief Harshawardhan Sapkal on Sunday demanded narco tests on chief electoral officer (CEO) S Chockalingam and then additional CEO Kiran Kulkarni to expose the truth in Maharashtra's "vote theft" in the 2024 assembly election.Sapkal said it is BJP and CM Devendra Fadnavis who have jumped in with rebuttals, instead of the election watchdog. Fadnavis had on Saturday called Rahul's allegations an outright lie and in an article published in a national newspaper and a ...Read More >
NEW DELHI: Axiom-4 crew members, including Shubhanshu Shukla, were welcomed with hugs and drinks as they stepped into the International Space Station on Thursday. The newly launched spacecraft -- the fifth in the Dragon series and named Grace -- successfully completed a soft docking with the International Space Station at 4.01pm while orbiting above the North Atlantic Ocean."At 6:31 am EDT (4:01 IST) on Thursday, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked to the International Space Station for the fourth private astronaut mission to the orbiting laboratory, Axiom Mission 4," the National Aeronautics ...Read More >
Bhubaneswar: Opposition BJD and Congress MLAs Tuesday staged a walkout from the Odisha assembly, accusing the ruling BJP of failing to control prices of essential commodities and resolve the potato crisis in the state. The issues were debated in the House over the admissibility of an adjournment motion moved by the Opposition on price rise of vegetables, pulses, edible oil and fuel. The opposition members took exception to comments made by Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister K C Patra that adverse climate conditions, rates in international and domestic markets, and less production by ...Read More >
Kottayam: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Kerala and Tamil Nadu have always supported each other, establishing a model of cooperative federalism. He said that when rights of states are being encroached upon, such cooperation should be extended among others. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and Vijayan inaugurated the Thanthai Periyar Memorial and Library in Vaikom in Kerala on Thursday, marking a significant occasion in the commemoration of the legacy of social reformer Periyar E.V. Ramasamy. Several key political leaders from both Tamil Nadu and Kerala, underscored the longstanding ...Read More >
Guwahati, Jun 5 (PTI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said that the caste census will greatly benefit the indigenous Muslim community living in both the Brahmaputra and Barak Valley in the state. The Centre on Wednesday announced that India's 16th Census with caste enumeration will be carried out in 2027. The indigenous Muslim communities of Assam have been demanding for a long time, a caste-based census to assert their distinct socio-cultural identities, the chief minister said on the sidelines of the World Environment Day programme here. ''The proposed caste enumerati ...Read More >
CHENNAI: PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss urged the central government to postpone the delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies across the country based on population by 25 years. In a statement, Anbumani said that the central government has announced that a caste based population census will be started from March 1, 2027. "PMK has been demanding the government to conduct the census before the end of 2025 to end controversies in delimitation and to safeguard social justice. The announcement has caused confusion, " he said. He added that the stand of PMK is to conduct a delimitation exercise b ...Read More >
Haridwar: A woman politician has been arrested for allegedly letting her boyfriend and others repeatedly rape her 13-year-old daughter in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. The horrifying crime, which occurred between January and March, was exposed when the minor bravely confided in her father, prompting a police investigation that led to the arrest of the accused. The accused was arrested with her boyfriend and one more. According to police reports, the minor was gang-raped multiple times, often in the presence of her mother. The minor, who had been living with her father following her parents' separat ...Read More >
Mumbai, Jun 6 (PTI) Reserve Bank on Friday retained GDP growth projections for the current fiscal at 6.5 per cent, saying the Indian economy presents a picture of strength, stability and opportunity in the backdrop of global uncertainty. The FY26 growth projections are compared with the 6.5 per cent economic growth recorded in the 2024-25 fiscal year. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has projected economic growth at 6.5 per cent for the June quarter and 6.7 per cent for the September quarter. For the December and March quarters of FY26, GDP growth is estimated at 6.6 per cent and 6.3 per cent ...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 contentious. Census is not just about counting people. It's about understanding who we are as a nation -- ...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 every speech, I am OBC. Then, on the caste census, they say that there is no caste in India. If there is ...Read More >
The Odisha government has formed a high-level ministerial committee, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida, to ensure the smooth execution of the Rath Yatra in Puri on June 27. The committee will oversee all arrangements for the festival, expected to draw around 1.5 million attendees. Preparations are also underway for the Snan Yatra on June 11.The Odisha government has constituted a high-level ministerial committee to ensure the smooth conduct of the upcoming Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannat ...Read More >
Itanagar, Dec 5 (PTI) The Arunachal Pradesh government has inked a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the Indian Army for the maintenance and upkeep of the Major Ralengnao Bob Khathing Museum of Valour in Tawang district. The memorandum was signed by Tawang Deputy Commissioner Kangki Darang and Brigadier VS Rajput of the 190 Mountain Brigade on Wednesday in the presence of Chief Minister Pema Khandu. With this agreement, the museum will be effectively managed solely by the Indian Army, an official statement said here on Thursday. On the occasion, Khandu paid tributes to Sardar Vallabhbhai P ...Read More >
Extensive preparations are on in Mangalagiri for the first-ever convocation of AIIMS, scheduled for December 17, where President Droupadi Murmu will be the chief guest. District Collector S. Nagalakshmi, along with AIIMS director Madhabananda Kar, Joint Collector A. Bhargav Teja and Tenali Sub-Collector V. Sanjana Simha, held a review meeting with AIIMS officials and other district officers on Thursday evening at the AIIMS auditorium to oversee the arrangements. During the meeting, Collector Na ...Read More >
Thiruvananthapuram, June 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) Reacting to the controversy after the Kerala Agriculture Minister P. Prasad boycotted the state-level celebrations on the World Environment Day at the Raj Bhavan -- the official residence of the state Governor, Rajendra V. Arlekar, the latter expressed his displeasure. Speaking at the event as the state Governor, Arlekar expressed his displeasure by saying that the Agriculture Minister should also have been present here. "The State Education Minister informed that he could not come. Then the Agriculture Minister also did not come. I do not know wha ...Read More >
NEW DELHI: Former head of Air India and chairman of the Railway Board Ashwani Lohani is the new Prime Ministers Museum and Library (PMML) director. The official order for his appointment was issued on Wednesday. A 1980-batch officer of the Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineering (IRSME), Lohani is known for turning around various organisations during his illustrious career. Following his retirement from IRSME service, he joined the GMR Group as the CEO. According to the order dated June 4, his appointment to the post of director, Prime Ministers Museum and Library in the rank and pa ...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? The population of the deprived sections is close to 90 per cent," said the former Congress president ...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 through the rail network. During his visit, PM Modi reviewed the Chenab bridge, world's highest ra ...Read More >
Srinagar, June 7: Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, on Saturday, congratulated the University of Kashmir for getting an A++ grade in the NAAC inspection. The Lt Governor extended his heartiest congratulations to the Vice Chancellor, faculty, staff, and students of the University of Kashmir for attaining the prestigious A++ Grade by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), and securing an outstanding Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 3.68 on a seven-point scale. Calling it a proud moment for J&K UT, the Lt Governor said, "The A++ Grade places the Un ...Read More >
Amritsar, Jun 26 (PTI) A 35-year-old man from Uttarakhand was rescued and reunited with his family after allegedly being held as a bonded labourer at a cowshed in a village in Tarn Taran district, officials said on Thursday. Ramesh Kumar, from Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, was rescued following the intervention of Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria, an official statement said. After a video went viral on social media purportedly showing Kumar tending to cattle under exploitative conditions, Garhwal MP Anil Baluni reached out to Governor Kataria. Kataria then ...Read More >
New Delhi: Alleging "blatant misuse" of agencies to defame its leaders, AAP on Thursday questioned why the first information report filed against former Delhi ministers Saurabh Bharadwaj and Satyendar Jain was being kept under wraps and "selective" press notes were being leaked to the media.Bharadwaj, who is Delhi AAP convener, alleged that only two former ministers were named in the case without any reasonable cause while all the officers of the health and public works departments, who were actually responsible for executing the hospital projects, were spared. "Is the FIR so baseless that BJP ...Read More >
Ranchi, Jun 27 (PTI) Lord Jagannath's chariot along with goddess Subhadra and Lord Balbhadra are set to roll out on Friday evening on way to their annual nine-day sojourn to Mausi Bari in Jharkhand's capital Ranchi amid tight security. The chariots of the deities will start rolling around 4.30 pm from Jagannath temple in Dhurwa with traditional rituals. Jharkhand Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar and Chief Minister Hemant Soren extended their wishes on the occasion of Rath Yatra. "Heartfelt greetings to all devotees on the sacred occasion of Rath Yatra. May Lord Jagannath bless this auspicious ...Read More >
Hyderabad: The government received 8 million applications for Indiramma houses and the acceptance of these applications should be completed by December 31, said the revenue and housing minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy. On Wednesday, December 12 the minister held a video conference at the secretariat with Telangana chief minister's advisor Vem Narender Reddy and chief secretary Shanti Kumari. They discussed the examination of Indiramma house applications, the conduct of Group-II examinations, a social survey, and other related issues. Instructing officials to involve members of the Indiramm ...Read More >
Rajgir, June 06 (UNI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday expressed his doubt over the intention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the caste census, saying he would not allow emerge true picture of the prevailing scenario on social dynamics in the country. Gandhi, while addressing a conference organised on the theme of "save the constitution ", said that Prime Minister Modi was not sincere and his intention was not clear on the caste census, as he had promised to do it in the country. Initially, he was not at all prepared for the caste census at the national level, but under his continue ...Read More >
Silchar: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday visited the flood-ravaged districts of Hailakandi and Sribhumi in the Barak Valley. He assured affected residents of providing timely disbursement of rehabilitation grants and swift repair of damaged infrastructure.This marks Sarma's second visit to the flood-hit region within four days, underscoring the gravity of the situation. Speaking to the media in Sribhumi after inspecting multiple relief camps, the CM said, "Flood-related problems may persist till July. I will return before Durga Puja to ensure that roads and infrastructure ar ...Read More >
Imphal, Jun 8 (PTI) Protests over the arrests of Meitei outfit leaders continued in Manipur on Sunday even as the administration imposed prohibitory orders and suspended internet services in five Imphal valley districts, officials said. Protesters burnt tyres on roads at Uripok and Koirengei in Imphal West district and Khurai in Imphal East, defying the prohibitory orders, they said. At Koirengei, demonstrators dug up the road and made heaps of soil on the thoroughfares to prevent the movement of security forces. Similar agitations were also staged in Jiribam district, neighbouring Assam. ...Read More >