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KOLKATA: High drama unfolded as a group of BJP workers came face to face with protesting members of a booth-level officers' forum in front of the West Bengal CEO's office here around midnight, while a police force stood as a barrier between the two groups, a senior officer said on Tuesday. Several members of the BLO Adhikar Raksha Committee were on a sit-in outside the CEO's office since the afternoon hours on Monday, alleging excessive work pressure and unmanageable workload during the ongoing

SRINAGAR: Winter has arrived early in Kashmir this year, with bone-chilling temperatures gripping the Valley weeks ahead of schedule. A prevailing dry spell combined with the La Nia effect has pushed night-time temperatures in Srinagar down to 3.1C, and forecasters warn of even colder nights ahead. Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu & Kashmir, recorded 3.1C on Sunday night, a sharp deviation from the seasonal norm of around 0.1C. This marks the second consecutive night that temperatures in th

BHOPAL: An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Santosh Verma, having a controversial past, has kicked up a fresh row with an objectionable remark about Brahmin girls in Madhya Pradesh. Addressing the provincial meeting of the Anusuchit Jati Evam Janjati Adhikari Evam Karmachari Sangh (AJAKS), the associations newly elected provincial president Santosh Verma reportedly made an objectionable remark about Brahmin girls. Reservations will continue till a Brahmin donates his daughter to my so

NEW DELHI: President Droupadi Murmu on Monday administered the oath of office to Justice Surya Kant, who became the 53rd Chief Justice of India. Vice President C P Radhakrishnan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, among others, attended the ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan. It marked a personal milestone for the 62-year-old judge from Haryanas Hisar district, who took the oath in Hindi, invoking God. Moments later, he walked over to greet the prime minister. Justice Kant succeeds Justice B R Gavai a

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has held that there is no provision in law which bars an individual from filing a complaint related to damage to public property. The SC was hearing an appeal against a September 24, 2024 order of the Allahabad High Court that had stayed the summoning of accused persons in the case, saying that gram pradhan had no locus to lodge an FIR in the matter. While allowing the appeal, a bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and Prasanna B Varale said on November 18 that there was

NEW DELHI: White-collar terror modules, new patterns of radicalisation and the push to use AI to counter crime and terror will form the core of discussions at the upcoming DGP/IGP Conference, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior officials said on Monday. The conference, organised annually by the Intelligence Bureau in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, brings the countrys top police leadership and the PM and home minister to Nava Raipur, Chhattisgarh, from November

NEW DELHI: INDIA bloc constituents will not take part in the December 14 rally being organised by the Congress to protest against the Election Commission of India (ECI)s alleged vote theft. Party leaders insist that it will be a purely Congress affair and the decision to go solo was firmed up at the AICC review meeting early last week. A senior Congress leader told this newspaper that the rally at Ramlila Maidan would be completely a Congress show aimed at conveying that the party has consistent

NEW DELHI/KOLKATA : The BJP has shifted its attention from what its leaders are calling Fateh Bihar to an ambitious Mission Bengal, but insiders admit that West Bengal will be far more challenging than Bihar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi may kick off the poll campaign in the second week of December, followed by a strategy tour of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. Modi may address a rally in Hooghlys Arambag on December 13 or 14, followed by Bhagwats six-day tour beginning December 18. Hindu organisations

As part of efforts to strengthen conservation awareness and encourage peaceful co-existence between vulnerable communities and wild elephants, biodiversity conservation organisation Aaranyak, with support from the SBI Foundation, conducted two school outreach programmes in Udalguri and Tamulpur districts. These activities were also designed to highlight the importance of adopting simple, practical measures to reduce risks for both communities and wildlife. At one school, the team delivered Gajah

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) such as noodles, sugar-sweetened beverages, chips, and biscuits, etc., are rapidly entering Indian diets and threatening public health, said Dr Arun Gupta, Convenor of Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest (NAPi). Speaking with TNIE , the paediatrician and nutritionist, who is among over 40 global experts to contribute to the latest Lancet series on UPFs and human health, said India needs three urgent actions: mandatory front-of-pack warning labels (FOPL); restrictin

NEW DELHI: The consumption pattern of Indian households has changed dramatically over the past decade with the share of monthly per capita expenditure on food falling below 50% for the first time and a larger portion going to non-food items such as durable goods, a new study reveals. According to the study, which compares data from the Household Consumption Expenditure Surveys of 2011-12 and 2023-24, household spending is shifting from basic necessities to asset-building items such as domestic a

MUMBAI: Dharmendra made a soft landing in Hindi cinema singing Mukeshs Mujhko is raat ki tanhai mein awaaz na do in Arjun Hingoranis Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere (1960), a sad, star-crossed love story about the poor and disempowered in Mumbai, who are unable to rise above their circumstances. The film also showcased a facet of Dharmendras personality that he came to be identified with for the rest of his lifehis unquestionable handsomeness. The audience could not take its eyes off the chaste good l

NEW DELHI: In a sharp message to the bureaucracy, the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) has ordered all ministries to stop working in silos, drop blame games and prepare only high quality cabinet notes that match Indian policies and projects with global standards. The strongly worded directive, issued last week, asks secretaries to shed routine bureaucratic mindset and focus on value addition while drafting or commenting on cabinet notes proposals which ministers submit before the government for app

RAIPUR: The Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (MMC) Special Zonal Committee of the banned CPI (Maoist) has sought time until February 15, 2026, to arrive at a collective decision on surrendering arms and accepting the governments rehabilitation package. The MMC committee operates in the dense tri-junction forest region of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh a strategically vital corridor used by Maoist cadres to move between different areas of the Dandakaranya Special Zone. In a

After the long-silent volcano erupted for the first time in nearly 10,000 years, a massive ash cloud from Ethiopia's Hayli Gubbi has begun drifting toward northern India. The eruption covered the nearby village of Afdera in dust and pushed thick plumes across the Red Sea toward Yemen and Oman before the cloud shifted eastwards. According to the Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), the explosive activity began around 8.30 am UTC and marked the volcanos first known eruption in almost 10,0

PATNA: The search for a new Bihar BJP president has begun after the induction of incumbent Dilip Kumar Jaiswal into the Nitish Kumar cabinet as a minister. Jaiswal, a member of the legislative council, will have to step down as party chief under the one person, one post policy. Sources within the BJP said senior leaders have already begun discussions on a new state president after Jaiswal was made a minister from the BJP quota. A senior leader, who camped in Bihar throughout the election, has be

SRINAGAR: In a landmark move for Jammu and Kashmirs mineral sector, Union Minister of Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday jointly launched the Union Territorys first-ever auction of limestone blocks, marking J&Ks entry into the national competitive bidding system. The launch and roadshow of the e-auction for the first seven limestone mineral blocks were held at the Convention Centre in Jammu. Seven limestone blocks, covering approximately 3

JASHPUR: A 15-year-old girl allegedly died by suicide by hanging herself in the study room of a private school after accusing the principal of molesting and sexually harassing her in Chhattisgarh's Jashpur district, officials said on Monday. The principal was arrested after the class 9 student allegedly used a saree to hang herself from a rod of the ceiling on Sunday evening. The school is located in a village under the Bagicha police station limits, Jashpur Senior Superintendent of Police Shash

NEW DELHI: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Monday raised serious concerns over the alleged illegal use of Auramine, a carcinogenic dye, in roasted chana and other food items, and wrote to Union Health Minister JP Nadda seeking urgent intervention. In her letter, also addressed to the Union Minister for Food Processing, Chaturvedi said recent reports showed the industrial dye, commonly used in textiles and leather, was allegedly being added illegally to food products to enhance their ap

NEW DELHI: Aviation regulator, DGCA has instructed all airline operators to adhere to a volcanic advisory by the Airport Authority of India. An official release from DGCA said that AAI and the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre at Toulouse (France) have issued a warning on hazardous conditions due to recent volcanic ash affecting the Muscat Flight Information Region and surrounding areas. An ASHTAM (notification due to volcano) has been issued by them. DGCA asked all flight operators the review of ope

India has lodged a strong diplomatic protest with China after an Arunachal Pradesh woman was detained and harassed for nearly 18 hours at Shanghai Pudong Airport , where Chinese immigration officials refused to recognise her Indian passport during a transit to Japan. A strong demarche was issued to Beijing simultaneously in the Chinese capital and in Delhi, on the very day of the incident, while the Indian Consulate in Shanghai intervened locally and provided assistance to the stranded passenger

BHOPAL: A surprise police raid at two spa centres in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, revealed sex rackets that were pushing young girls from Delhi and from districts in the GwaliorChambal region into prostitution. The raid, led by additional SP (ASP) Vidita Dagar, was carried out on Sunday at two spa centres located in the upmarket City Centre area of Gwalior. The operation resulted in the busting of the rackets. Total seven young girls were found at the two Spa Centres. The girls were found in objecti

SRINAGAR: Hindu groups in Jammu have intensified protests demanding Hindu-only admissions at the Vaishno Devi medical university after 42 Muslim students were selected this year, prompting J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to counter that the admissions were strictly merit-based and if you want to conduct admissions on the basis of religion then remove secularism from the constitution. Activists of the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal staged a protest in Jammu against the admission of 42 Muslim students to

GURUGRAM: Air India CEO and Managing Director Campbell Wilson on Monday said the year 2026 is set to witness significant changes to the airlines fleet. Nearly two-thirds of the wide body Boeing 787-8 aircraft would be upgraded next year while the entire fleet would be upgraded by 2027. Briefing newspersons at the Air India Training Academy at Gurugram, Wilson spoke at length about the wide body upgradation programme underway. The first two of our 787-788 legacy aircraft are undergoing upgradatio

LUCKNOW: A man in his twenties was found dead in a pond on Monday after he allegedly escaped from police custody in Bhadohi district. The man had been arrested for kidnapping a minor girl from another community. While a purported suicide note was found a few metres from the pond accusing the girl and her family of driving him to take the extreme step, the deceaseds family refused to accept it as a case of death by suicide and alleged police negligence. According to police sources, the Station Ho

JAIPUR: As India grieves the loss of Dharmendra, one of its most beloved film stars, in Bikaner, the sorrow runs differently. For many here, he was not just the He-Man of Hindi cinema but a former representative who once stepped into Parliament on their mandate at the start of the 21st century. Dharmendra entered active politics in 2004, contesting the Lok Sabha elections from the Bikaner constituency on a BJP ticket. He made the move during the partys India Shining campaign and, along with acto

PATNA : The Bihar Congress on Monday expelled seven leaders from the partys primary membership for six years for harming the partys dignity by making what it described as baseless and misleading claims that tickets were sold in the recently concluded state assembly election. The action was taken through an order issued by the partys disciplinary committee chairman, Kapildeo Prasad Yadav. The committee also contended that the party had maintained complete transparency regarding the issues raised

NEW DELHI: Defence manufacturing companies Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) of India and Safran Electronics and Defence (SED) of France on Monday signed a Joint Venture Cooperation Agreement (JVCA) for the production of Highly Agile Modular Munition Extended Range (HAMMER) Smart Precision Guided Air-to-Ground Weapon in India. The JVCA was inked by CMD, BEL, Manoj Jain and Executive Vice President, SED, Alexandre Ziegler in the presence of Secretary (Defence Production) Sanjeev Kumar & CEO Safran

Lucknow: Preparations for the Dhwajaarohan (flag-hoisting) ceremony on the spire of the Ram temple have reached their final stage, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to return to Ayodhya after 22 months. The event marks the formal completion of the temples construction, nearly two years after the consecration of Ram Lalla in the sanctum sanctorum, which the PM presided over on 22 January 2024. The PM will hoist the saffron flag, the Dharam Dhwaja , atop the temple spire on Tuesday. The right-

NEW DELHI: In a move against fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi in Rs 6000 crore PNB scam, the Enforcement directorate (ED) has handed over four flats of Gitanjali Gems Ltd to the liquidator, the agency said on Monday. The agency has facilitated the handing over of four flats in Project Tatva, Urja A Wing, Datthapada Road, Borivali (East), Mumbai, properties attached in the case of Mehul Choksi and others in PNB fraud case to the liquidator on November 21. It will enable the liquidator to procee

CHANDIGARH: The cities of Anandpur Sahib, Talwandi Sabo and the Galiara around the Golden Temple in Amritsar have been accorded the status of 'holy cities' in the special Vidhan Sabha session at Anandpur Sahib to mark the 350th martyrdom day of Guru Teg Bahadur. This is the first time in the history of the State that a session was held outside the assembly building in Chandigarh. The resolution was moved by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann during a special session of the Punjab Assembly and was unan

NEW DELHI: Independent scientists, environmentalists, and leaders of farmers' organisations have expressed their concerns to Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan regarding the opaque consultative process being used for the proposed amendments to the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights (PPV&FR) Act of 2001 and its associated rules. The Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA-Kisan Swaraj) sent a letter to Chouhan, signed and endorsed by 159 scientists, far

DEHRADUN: At least five pilgrims were killed in a road accident while returning from the historic Kunjapuri Temple in Uttarakhand's Tehri district on Monday. The incident occurred as the bus was returning from the Kunjapuri Devi Temple, located about 23 km from Rishikesh. Authorities confirmed five fatalities at the scene. Five people have tragically died in this accident, confirmed ASP J R Joshi of Tehri Garhwal. A total of 17 people were injured and rushed to nearby hospitals. State Disaster R

A woman from Arunachal Pradesh was allegedly harrassed and detained at China's Shanghai airport for eighteen hours after the authorities refused to recognise her indian passport as valid, claiming that the region is part of China. According to the woman, Pem Wang Thongdok, she was at the Shanghai airport for a three-hour transit halt while travelling from London to Japan on November 21. After immigration, I submitted my passport and was waiting at security. Just then, an official came and starte

GUWAHATI: The report of a non-government commission, which probed the incidents related to the 1983 Assam election violence, will be tabled in the State Assembly during its winter session beginning on Tuesday. The three-member unofficial judicial commission, headed by Justice (Retd) T U Mehta, was formed by Mukti Jujaru Sanmilan and those involved in the six-year-long Assam agitation or anti-foreigners agitation. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said it would be the first time that a report of

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Monday protesting the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwals proposal to set up polling booths inside private housing complexes. The CEO has sent proposals to the state government and directed all district magistrates, who are district electoral officers (DEOs) across the state on the matter. Agarwal has asked the DEOs not to engage the contractual Data Entry Operators

AHMEDABAD: BJP National General Secretary B L Santosh on Monday became the first national leader to visit the former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani's residence after the funeral-expense controversy, triggering political chatter across Saurashtra. The BJP's 22-minute closed-door meeting with Anjaliben Rupani has revived speculation of the Rupani familys re-entry into the BJP power structure and amplified whispers about internal fault lines. The BJPs high-profile Saurashtra zone meeting at Ka

Amid widespread public outrage over reports suggesting a proposed plan by the Jammu and Kashmir government to impose a 20 per cent surcharge on electricity tariff during peak hours, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday dismissed the claims as umours. No electricity hike is proposed, and I do not know where this rumour started, Abdullah told reporters. I am also the power minister and so far no such discussion (to hike power tariff) has taken place, leave aside my signature on the claimed prop

AHMEDABAD: A 26-year-old BLO and Surat Municipal Corporation technical assistant, Dinkal Shingodawala, was found unconscious in her bathroom and later declared dead at a private hospital. With a gas geyser inside the bathroom, police officials indicated the possibility of gas inhalation or suffocation as the cause of death. However, BLO workload-related deaths statewide spark concerns. Off the cuff: During SIR exercise, BLOs find some blank columns hide painful memories Dinkal, who lived with he

KOLKATA: Rattled by complaints of alleged negligence in supervising the filling up of enumeration forms during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in the state has decided to engage electoral roll observers (ERO) to prevent manipulations in the exercise. Sources said senior government officers will be appointed as EROs to keep watch on a section of booth level officers (BLOs) who are the backbone of the ongoing S

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre and others on a plea which challenged the validity of a provision of the Income Tax Act that allows political parties to receive anonymous cash donations below Rs 2,000. The plea said this lack of transparency undermines the purity of the election process as it deprives voters of the crucial knowledge about the source of political funding, including the donors and their motives, preventing them from making a rational, intell

Politicians, actors and fans across the country are mourning the death of veteran actor Dharmendra , affectionately known as Bollywoods He-Man and Dharam Paaji. Prime Minister Modi described the actors passing as the end of an era in Indian cinema and expressed his condolences to Dharmendras family, friends, and fans. The passing of Dharmendra Ji marks the end of an era in Indian cinema. He was an iconic film personality, a phenomenal actor who brought charm and depth to every role he played. Th

RANCHI: Addressing a gathering at Seva Ke Adhikar Saptah programme in Jamtara on Sunday, Jharkhand Health Minister Dr Irfan Ansari advised people to lock the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) inside if they visit their homes for Survey of Intensive Revision (SIR). Ansari also alleged that the BJP is conspiring to brand people as infiltrators and eliminate their names from the voter list under the guise of SIR. If anybody (BLO) comes to remove your name (SIR) from the voter list, lock them inside your

BHOPAL:After being on the run for more than three weeks, the suspended government doctor, the alleged mastermind of the recently busted inter-state fake Indian currency notes (FICN) racket, has been arrested in Madhya Pradesh's capital, Bhopal. Acting on specific inputs, cops from the special investigation team (SIT) of Khandwa district police, raided a house in Bhopals Bagmugaliya area and arrested Dr Prateek Navlakhe along with his two aides. While the suspended government doctor, 43-year-old

KOLKATA: On a day the West Bengal School Service Commission is scheduled to publish the SLST results for recruitment of teachers to classes 9-10, two groups of job aspirants held separate protest marches here on Monday over illegal mark allotment and recruitment delays, reflecting persisting unrest in the state's school education sector. Thousands of fresh SSC aspirants to classes 11 and 12 took out a march from the Sealdah Station in north Kolkata, breached multiple police barricades and clashe

KOLKATA: Ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls, Prime Minister PM Narendra Modi and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat are likely to attend separate programmes to kick off election campaigns for BJP in the state. The Bengal BJP unit has already approached the state administration seeking clearance for a rally in Arambag of Hooghly district on 13 or 14 December. The Bengal leadership of the saffron camp held a meeting in Kolkata last week where the PMs visit to the state to attend the proposed electi

AHMEDABAD: The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) along with police launched a mega demolition drive on Monday to clear illegal encroachments at Isanpur lake, officials said. Of the 96,000 square metres of government land at the lake site, nearly 30 per cent (28,800 square metres) has been encroached, AMC deputy commissioner Riddhesh Raval said. While 167 commercial properties were demolished before Diwali, the drive launched during the day is to clear 925 illegal residential structures, he t

NEW DELHI: India and Canada have agreed to resume negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with an aim to increase the two-way trade to USD 50 billion by 2030, according to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. An FTA or Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) has many strategic elements to it and it is a demonstration of the trust between the two countries, Goyal said here at an event on Monday. The pact would give confidence to investors, businesses of both sides, he sa

IMPHAL: Hundreds of internally displaced people (IDPs) staying in relief camps here clashed with security forces at Pukhao and near Dolaithabi Dam in Imphal East district on Monday as they attempted to return to their native homes, officials said. IDPs from Ekou, Dolaithabi and Yengkhuman localities, who had been staying in relief camps, attempted to march towards their homes but were stopped by security forces. The security forces fired tear gas shells to disperse the protesters, they said. The

GUWAHATI: An Assam resident has petitioned the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), requesting it to send a fact-finding team to the state to assess the ecological implications of a proposed 34.45 km-long elevated corridor along a national highway on the southern fringes of the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve. Prasanta Kumar Saikia, a native of Gomothagaon village in central Assams Nagaon district, has requested that the Government of India and the