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 "LIVE: Delhi reports 535 fresh Covid cases & 0 death in the last 24 hours")
2 min read Last Updated : Apr 08 2023 | 11:10 PM IST
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Government has excluded three coal mines situated in Tamil Nadu's protected agricultural zone, from auction, after state's chief minister M.K. Stalin had urged the Centre to do so.
Stalin had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 4 to exclude three coal/lignite mining blocks located in the state's Cauvery delta region from the proposed coal block auction by the Centre.
The development, however, took a political twist after union Coal and Mines minister Pralhad Joshi tweeted on Friday that the decision was taken as the Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai had requested him to do so.
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Hospitals, polyclinics and dispensaries in Delhi have been instructed by health department authorities to scale up testing amid an upward trend in COVID-19 cases here in the past several days, sources said on Saturday.
More than 3,800 coronavirus cases have been recorded in the city during the March 30-April 7 period.
Delhi logged 733 Covid cases -- the highest in over seven months -- on Friday, with a positivity rate of 19.93 per cent, according to data shared by the city government's health department.
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Senior Congress leader and UDF convenor M.M. Hassan on Saturday requested to stop the attack on the social media against veteran Congressman A.K. Antony after his elder son Anil Antony exited Congress and joined the BJP.
Hassan is a long time neighbour of Antony in the state capital city besides being a member in the cabinet of Antony during 2001-04.
Hassan said what's going on now is the huge social media attack against Antony for what his son did.
"We all saw and heard the harsh words that Antony said about what his son did. Mind you, his son is also a grown up personality and he can seek his way forward, but why blame Antony. This social media attack should stop," said Hassan.
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The Tamil Nadu health department will conduct a mock drill to assess the prepared of the department in curbing the possibilities of a Covid-19 surge. The Test Positivity Rate (TPR) in many districts of Tamil Nadu have touched above 5 indicating that things are not rosy.
However state Health Minister, Ma Subramanian expressed confidence in bringing things under control and told people not to worry about the slight increase in Covid cases. The minister has called upon people to strictly abide by the Covid protocol put forward by the government including wearing masks, safe distancing and washing hands regularly.
The minister said that the variant of Omicron that is present in the country was not lethal and hence called upon the people not to worry much but to be cautious.
2:45 PM
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Arunachal Pradesh on April 10 and 11 where he will launch the 'Vibrant Villages Programme' in Kibithoo, a village along the India-China border.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government of India has approved the 'Vibrant Villages Programme' (VVP) with central components of Rs 4,800 crore, including Rs 2,500 crore exclusively for road connectivity for the financial years 2022-23 to 2025-26, a home ministry statement said on Saturday.
The VVP is a centrally sponsored scheme under which 2,967 villages in 46 blocks of 19 districts abutting the northern border in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and Union Territory of Ladakh have been identified for comprehensive development.
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Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar on Saturday slammed the "publicity" around the Ayodhya visit of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and also ridiculed relentless media updates on the latter's programme there.
Shinde will be proceeding to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh by helicopter on Sunday after arriving in Lucknow later in the evening on Saturday.
Shinde will offer prayers at the Hanumangarhi temple and the Ram temple, see the ongoing construction of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple, perform evening 'aarti' on the banks of the Saryu river, meet seers, address a press conference and then return to Mumbai, as per the CM's aides.
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A day before a meeting to finalise candidates for the Karnataka assembly polls, BJP president JP Nadda on Saturday held discussions with key state leaders, including Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and BS Yediyurappa, on probable names.
The BJP's parliamentary board will meet on Sunday to finalise candidates for the May 10 elections to the 224-member Karnataka assembly.
Before the discussions started, Chief Minister Bommai said, "We will discuss about all probable candidates. We have district and constituency wise details and recent survey outcomes. Keeping all that in mind, we will have a detailed discussion with national leaders."
2:39 PM
In a veiled attack on Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao-led government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said Telangana needs to be very careful of people who nurture dynastic rule, nepotism and corruption.
Prime Minister Modi said he was pained at the non-cooperation of state government in the Centre's projects.
Addressing the gathering at Parade Ground, Hyderabad, PM Modi said, "Serving people with utmost devotion is our primary goal. But I am very pained about one thing... It hurts a lot when the development and welfare measures by the central government do not fructify well due to hindrances posed by state governments. This has been happening in Telangana."
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Hyderabad on Saturday where he will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of development projects worth Rs 11,300 crore.
Prime Minister was received by Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy at Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad. Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Bandi Sanjay was also present at the airport.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao did not receive PM Modi at the airport. Instead, KCR deputed Telangana minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav to receive the Prime Minister at Begumpet airport in his absence.
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Thousands of Shiv Sainiks are expected to accompany Eknath Shinde on his visit to Ayodhya on Sunday, his first such visit after being sworn in as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra in June last year.
Almost all hotels, guest houses and dharamshalas in the temple town have been booked to accommodate Shiv Sena ministers, MPs and MLAs who will arrive in Ayodhya on Saturday.
Shiv Sainiks are also expected to reach Ayodhya in special trains a day before Shinde to welcome him.
12:02 PM
Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar on Saturday said he cancelled his programmes for Friday as he was unwell after long tours across Maharashtra over the past few days and asked the media to not speculate on such issues as it caused confusion.
"I was unwell so I cancelled tours and events scheduled for Friday. Over the past few days, I have travelled across Maharashtra and have not got enough rest. Due to lack of proper sleep, pulmonary irritation was also on the rise. I took medicines and took rest at home as advised by the doctor," he said.
"I too am human and might face health issues. The media must stop speculating during such times and verify before publishing any news. We are public figures but it is wrong to defame us in this manner," he added.
11:58 AM
A day after his sensational remarks expressing doubts over a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Hindenburg Research report against the Adani Group, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar on Saturday claimed that he was in favour of a Supreme Court-monitored investigation.
The senior leader also frowned at the manner in which the names of industrialists like Ambani-Adani were being tossed around to target the BJP government at the Centre instead of bigger issues like inflation, unemployment and farmers.
Clarifying his stance after the ruckus following his comments to a TV channel on Friday, Pawar said he was not opposed to the JPC probe, but if the Committee comprises 21 members, then 15 would be from the ruling side and the remaining six from the Opposition side.
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Heavy police deployment is in place in Chennai as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to reach the city on Saturday afternoon.
The Prime Minister is scheduled to inaugurate new terminal of Chennai International Airport on his arrival at 3 p.m. He is later scheduled to flag off the Vande Bharat Express train from Chennai to Coimbatore that will ease the travel time between the two cities by two hours.
Tamil Nadu DGP C. Sylendra Babu is directly supervising the security aspects of the Prime Minister's visit. Local police is present in large numbers on all points of the city and foolproof security arrngements as per the SPG specifications have been made.
11:28 AM
Officials from Nepal and China have held a high-level meeting to discuss existing bilateral ties and cooperation and deliberated on the ways to further expand and consolidate cooperation in various areas like trade promotion, investment and connectivity.
The 15th meeting of the Bilateral Diplomatic Consultation Mechanism between the Foreign Ministries of Nepal and China was held in Beijing on Friday.
The two sides discussed existing bilateral ties and cooperation and deliberated on the ways to further expand and consolidate partnership in various areas such as economic cooperation, trade promotion, investment, tourism and connectivity among others.
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India on Saturday recorded 6,155 fresh Covid-19 infections, while the number of active cases increased to 31,194, according to Union health ministry data.
India's Covid-19 tally now stands at 44 million (44,751,259). The death toll climbed to 530,954 with 11 deaths, including two reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.
At 31,194, the active cases comprise 0.07 per cent of the total infections. The national Covid-19 recovery rate stands at 98.74 per cent, according to the health ministry website.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 44,189,111, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent.
11:09 AM
President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday took a sortie on a Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft at the Tezpur Air Force Station in Assam, officials said.
The President, currently on a visit to Assam, is the Supreme Commander of the three services.
The Sukhoi-30 MKI is a twin-seater multirole fighter jet developed by Russia's Sukhoi and built under licence by India's aerospace giant Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
10:45 AM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release the latest tiger census data at a mega event to mark the completion of 50 years of 'Project Tiger' in Mysuru on Sunday.
He will also release the government's vision for tiger conservation during 'Amrit Kaal', and also launch the International Big Cats Alliance (IBCA).
IBCA will focus on protection and conservation of seven major big cats of the world -- Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Puma, Jaguar and Cheetah, with membership of the range countries harbouring these species.
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Clashes and violence over Ram Navami procession at Rishra in Hooghly district of West Bengal on April 2 was instigated by the processionists, the state government has informed the Calcutta High Court.
Chandernagore City Police, under whose jurisdiction Rishra comes, on Friday evening, submitted to the court a detailed report on the clashes.
IANS sources aware of the contents of the report said that it mentions that those participating in the procession had been constantly "instigating" the local people by using "abusive and offensive" language constantly since the beginning of the procession.
10:44 AM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new Integrated Terminal Building (Phase -1) of Chennai International Airport on Saturday.
PM Modi will visit Chennai where he will inaugurate several development projects.
According to Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the Integrated Terminal Building of Chennai Airport has been developed at the cost of Rs 1,260 crore. The addition of this new Integrated Terminal building will increase the passenger serving capacity of the airport from 23 Million Passengers Per Annum (MPPA) to 30 MPPA.
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Topics :Narendra ModiModi govtRussia Ukraine ConflictIndiaPakistan ChinaPoliticsjobsKarnataka polls
First Published: Apr 08 2023 | 8:27 AM IST
