New Delhi, Aug 22 (PTI) Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka is scheduled to visit India from August 24-27 during which he will meet President Droupadi Murmu and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday. In an advisory, the MEA said the prime minister of the Republic of Fiji, Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka, and his spouse, Suluweti Rabuka, will visit India from August 24-27. Rabuka is scheduled to arrive in Delhi on Sunday evening. On Augus...Read More
Shillong, Aug 21 (PTI) Drugs worth more than Rs 412 crore have been seized in Meghalaya over the past five years and over a thousand people arrested in connection with trafficking, officials said on Thursday. Superintendent of Police (SP) in-charge of the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) Giri Prasad said between 2020 and 2025, the force and state police seized 400,993 grams of heroin, 12,756 kg of marijuana, 2,79,636 kg of opium, 76 kg of yaba tablets, 14 kg of white crystal meth and 1,24,906 b...Read More
New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held a phone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron focusing on resolution of the conflicts in Ukraine and West Asia. Modi described the conversation as "very good". Macron was among the European leaders who accompanied Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his talks with US President Donald Trump this week. "Had a very good conversation with my friend President Macron. Exchanged views on efforts for peacefu...Read More
New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) India is neither the biggest purchaser of Russian oil nor it has the biggest trade surge with Moscow after 2022, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday, in what appears to be the first clear response by a top government functionary following the US slapping an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods for buying Russian oil. Jaishankar made the remarks in response to a question at a joint media briefing with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. "...Read More
Chandigarh, Aug 21 (PTI) The last rites of a 19-year-old teacher whose body was found in a field in Haryana's Bhiwani more than a week ago and whose death will be probed by the CBI, were held in the district on Thursday. Manisha had gone missing on August 11 after leaving her school, purportedly to enquire about admission at a nursing college. Her body was found in a field in Bhiwani on August 13. On Thursday morning, her last rites were conducted with a large number of people in her native vi...Read More
Patna, Aug 21 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Bihar on Friday when he is scheduled to inaugurate development projects worth more than Rs 13,000 crore, including a bridge over the river Ganges, besides addressing a rally. The PM's programmes will be held at a time Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's 'Voter Adhikar Yatra' is underway in the state. Assembly elections are due in the state this year. During his nearly four-hour-long tour of Bihar, the PM will undertake whistle stop visits ...Read More
New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) The initial share sale of Patel Retail Ltd was subscribed 95.70 times as the three-day IPO drew to a close on Thursday. The Rs 242.76-crore initial public offer received bids for 74,79,89,402 shares against 78,15,612 shares on offer, according to data available with the NSE. Qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) received a whopping 272.43 times subscription, while the quota for non-institutional investors got subscribed 108.17 times. The retail individual investors (RII...Read More
Chennai, Aug 21 (PTI) Tamil Nadu quarter-miler Vishal Thennarasu Kayalvizhi on Thursday smashed the men's 400m national record with a time of 45.12 seconds at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships here on Thursday. The 21-year-old ran a stunning race to leave behind his rivals way behind at the finishing line to cement his status as the numero uno quarter-miler of the country. He bettered the previous national record of 45.21 seconds which was in the name of Muhammed Anas sinc...Read More
New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) The Congress on Thursday claimed the bills proposing the removal of the prime minister, chief ministers, and ministers under arrest for 30 days on serious charges were a "WMD -- weapon of mass distraction". It claimed the bills were aimed at diverting attention from "vote chori", a strong opposition candidate for the vice presidential polls and the problems in the India-US ties. Congress general secretary in-charge, communications, Jairam Ramesh, said the BJP's "anti-co...Read More
Bhopal, Aug 21 (PTI) Police authorities in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the allegations that Congress MLA Arif Masood was running a college on the basis of forged documents to obtain recognition for his institution. The SIT will be headed by Sanjeev Shami, Additional Director General of Police (ADG) Telecom. Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Chhindwara Range Kalyan Chakravarty and Assistant Inspector General (AIG) Training Nimisha...Read More
New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought the Centre's response on a plea against a notification increasing the limit of non-medical faculty for MBBS students for Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Pharmacology. A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela issued notice to the Centre on the plea, which claimed the regulations were diluting the standards of medical education. The petition sought the judicial intervention ...Read More
New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday expressed disappointment at the absence of normal proceedings in Parliament's Monsoon session leading to the passage of several bills amid the Opposition's protests, and said bright and young MPs of the Congress do not get to participate in discussions due to the "insecurity" of its leadership. Sources said Modi made these remarks at the customary informal meeting of leaders from different parties in Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's o...Read More
Hyderabad, Aug 21 (PTI) The Telangana High Court on Thursday adjourned to August 22 the hearing on petitions filed by BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao and former minister T Harish Rao seeking to quash the report of the Justice (Retd) P C Ghose Commission of Inquiry on the Kaleshwaram project. The judicial commission, appointed by the Telangana government to probe the project, held former chief minister Chandrasekhar Rao "directly and vicariously" accountable for the "irregularities" in its con...Read More
Jalandhar, Aug 21 (PTI) Haryana and Odisha emerged victorious in their respective semifinals of the 15th Hockey India Junior Men's National Championship here on Thursday. In the first semifinal, Haryana defeated Uttar Pradesh 3-0 with Nitin (3', 54') scoring two goals for his team and Jeetpal (47') hitting the third. The second semifinal between Odisha and Punjab was a closely contested affair in which the former defeated the hosts 3-2 with Karan Lakra (58') scoring in the final few minutes of...Read More
Bengaluru, Aug 21 (PTI) Rookie Heena Kang dropped a crucial double bogey right at the end of the round but still managed to keep her nose ahead by one stroke in the 11th leg of the Hero Women's Pro Golf Tour here on Thursday. Heena shot a second straight round of even par 72 and was one shot clear of Jasmine Shekar (75-70). Amateur Lavanya Gupta added a second-round score of 72 after a 74 in the first round and was third, while three players -- Agrima Manral (78-70), Ananya Datar (75-73) and a...Read More
New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) SpaceX had probably taken "lightly" the liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon-9 rocket that launched the Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station, putting at risk the lives for four astronauts, including Shubhanshu Shukla, ISRO chairman V Narayanan said here on Thursday. Narayanan said it was at the insistence of ISRO engineers that SpaceX examined the leak detected in the oxidiser lines that carry liquid oxygen to the rocket engines and discovered a crack that coul...Read More
Chandigarh, Aug 21 (PTI) A delegation of BJP in Punjab on Thursday met Governor Gulab Chand Kataria seeking his intervention over the AAP government "forcibly halting" their awareness camps. The party claimed that the camps are aimed at ensuring the benefits of the central schemes reach people in the state. The BJP also alleged that several party leaders including former union minister Preneet Kaur, former MLA K D Bhandari, former MP Sushil Rinku, former MLA Harjot Kamal were detained by polic...Read More
New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) Mining major Vedanta Ltd on Thursday said its board has approved the second interim dividend of Rs 16 per share for the current fiscal, amounting to an outgo of Rs 6,256 crore. The company had earlier announced a dividend of Rs 7 per share in June this year. The first dividend had led to an outflow of Rs 2,737 crore. "The board of directors of Vedanta Ltd at its meeting held today...has considered and approved the second interim dividend of Rs 16 per equity share on fac...Read More
Barmer, Aug 21 (PTI) A teacher-cum-warden of a gurukul in Rajasthan's Barmer district allegedly branded two children, aged around 10 and 11, with a hot iron rod to "discipline" them for bed-wetting, officials said on Thursday. The alleged incident took place on August 17 at a gurukul in the Harpaliya village of Sedwa area, run by Harpaleshwar Mahadev Vikas Seva Samiti. According to officials, the gurukul, operational since 2022, houses children from poor and nomadic families, some of whom were ...Read More
New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) Solar module maker Vikram Solar's initial public offer garnered 54.63 times subscription on the last day of bidding on Thursday. The IPO received bids for 2,47,81,57,740 shares against 4,53,61,650 shares on offer, as per NSE data. The portion for Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) fetched a huge 142.79 times subscription. Non Institutional Investors' part received 50.90 times subscription while the quota for Retail Individual Investors (RIIs) got subscribed 7.65 time...Read More
New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) The proposed amendments to the insolvency law will help in saving time and ensure faster resolution of stressed assets, IBBI Chairperson Ravi Mital said on Thursday. On August 12, the government introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha to amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), proposing a raft of changes, including provisions to reduce the time taken for admission of insolvency resolution applications. The bill, which has been referred to a select committee of the Lo...Read More
New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) "Love Insurance Kompany", featuring popular Tamil stars Pradeep Ranganathan and Kirthi Shetty, will come out in theatres on October 21, the makers announced on Thursday. Written and directed by Vignesh Shivan and produced by Rowdy Pictures, owned by superstar Nayanthara and Shivan, the film was originally scheduled to release on September 18. "A Love Festival Loading this Diwali!#LoveInsuranceKompany hitting the big screens this Diwali on October 17th," the official X h...Read More
Mumbai, Aug 21 (PTI) Rapidly expanding global capability centres of banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector has led to an acute shortage of talent, widening skill gap and higher workforce expense for enterprises, a report said on Thursday. India's BFSI GCC sector was valued at USD 40-41 billion in 2023 and is projected to touch USD 125-135 billion by 2032, which reflects a CAGR of 12-13 per cent, according to 'BFSI GCC Talent Report 2025' by staffing and workforce solutions prov...Read More
Madurai (Tamil Nadu), Aug 21 (PTI) The Assembly poll next year will see the TVK scripting a new chapter in Tamil Nadu's political history similar to the achievements of the regional parties in the 1967 and 1977 Assembly elections, actor-politician Vijay, who heads the TVK, said here on Thursday. Referring to the maiden victory of the DMK in 1967 and the memorable victory a decade later of the AIADMK under M G Ramachandran, Vijay said his TVK party will set a record in Tamil Nadu's political his...Read More
New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has quashed FIRs lodged between neighbours due to a scuffle over handling of pet dogs and directing them to pay Rs 10,000 costs each at a canine shelter. Justice Arun Monga said the dispute between the parties was private in nature and arose out of unnecessary differences between neighbours in relation to the handling of their respective pets. "Continuation of the criminal proceedings would serve no useful purpose and would rather amount to an abuse...Read More
New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) The Students' Federation of India (SFI) on Thursday opposed Delhi University mandating a Rs 1 lakh bond from students' union election candidates, saying it would approach the high court against the "arbitrary and exclusionary" provision. The university, in a notification issued on August 8, directed that contestants of the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) polls must submit the bond as a preventive measure against property defacement during campaigning. DUSU elect...Read More
New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) The initial public offer of transformer components manufacturer Mangal Electrical Industries Ltd received 54 per cent subscription on the first day of bidding on Wednesday. The initial share sale got bids for 28,43,542 shares against 52,53,301 shares on offer, as per NSE data. The category for non-institutional investors fetched 72 per cent subscription, while the portion for Retail Individual Investors (RIIs) attracted 70 per cent subscription. The Qualified Institutio...Read More
Jammu, Aug 20 (PTI) A free vaccination drive to prevent cancer of the uterine cervix among the girls of Jammu and Kashmir was launched here on Wednesday, an official said. Health Minister Sakeena Itoo inaugurated the first-of-its-kind initiative, reaffirming the government's commitment to saving lives and building a healthy future for women across the region. She emphasised the importance of raising awareness about the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and called for a sustained campaign to d...Read More
Thane, Aug 20 (PTI) Following the continuous heavy rainfall for six days, the Morbe dam which is Navi Mumbai's prime source of water has reached full capacity, officials said on Wednesday. The dam was 100 per cent full at 3.10 am, prompting the release of 1,123 cusecs of water into the Dhavari river basin, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) announced. Located on Dhavari river in Khalapur taluka of Raigad district, it is the only dam owned by a municipal corporation. It has a total stora...Read More
Mumbai, Aug 20 (PTI) A day after facing monsoon fury, Mumbai saw respite from torrential rains on Wednesday as the metropolis slowly limped back to normalcy with its lifeline - local trains -- springing back to life, and schools and offices opening for regular functioning. Intermittent showers lashed Mumbai overnight, but the rain intensity reduced as the day progressed, putting life back on track, a day after heavy rains battered the financial capital, submerging roads, rail tracks and leading...Read More