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The Haryana government has set up a high-level monitoring committee to speed up development projects and ensure timely execution, according to an official order issued on Monday. The committee will review the progress of projects every two weeks, while overall reviews will also be held at the chief minister's level, preferably once in two months. As per the order issued by Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi, the initiative aims to improve efficiency, accountability and timely delivery of development works across the state. The committee includes Additional Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Saket Kumar, Officer on Special Duty to the CM Narender Pal Malik and Senior Consultant to the CM Karan Ahlawadi. Meanwhile, Chief Engineer (Public Health) Rajeev Batish will provide technical support. The panel will monitor timelines from administrative approval to award of work, examine delays in approvals, and review the time taken between award and start of projects, including required ..
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the return of Piprahwa relics associated with Lord Buddha is a "moment of pride, reverence and cultural connect."Sharing the highlights of today's programme, the Prime Minister, in a post on X, wrote, "The return of the sacred Piprahwa relics associated with Bhagwan Buddha after over a century is a moment of pride, reverence and cultural connect. Here are the highlights from today's programme."Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated the Grand International Exposition of Sacred Piprahwa Relics, titled "The Light & the Lotus: Relics of the Awakened One," at the Rai Pithora Cultural Complex in New Delhi.The exhibition marks a historic moment with the reunification of the Piprahwa gem relics of Lord Buddha, repatriated after 127 years. The display also features relics, gem relics, and reliquaries unearthed during the 1898 excavation and the subsequent 1971-1975 excavations at the Piprahwa site.Prime Minister Modi said that ...
Four accused in singer Zubeen Garg's death case filed bail petitions before the court on Saturday. The Kamrup (Metro) District and Sessions Court, which is hearing the case, fixed January 17 as the next date of hearing when the bail objection by the public prosecutor will be filed. The bail pleas were moved by Garg's band member Amritprava Mahanta, his cousin Sandipan Garg, a police officer, and his two personal security officers (PSOs), Nandeswar Bora and Prabin Baishya. The singer-composer-actor had died on September 19 while swimming in the sea in Singapore, where he had gone to attend the Northeast Festival. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the CID, which is probing the case, has charged festival organiser Shyamkanu Mahanta, the singer's secretary Siddhartha Sharma and his two band members, Shekharjyoti Goswami and Amritprava, with murder, and his cousin, who was accompanying him, with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The two PSOs were charged with criminal ...
A Delhi court on Wednesday granted bail to one of the protesters arrested in connection with an agitation against air pollution at the India Gate on November 23, where slogans were allegedly raised in support of slain Maoist commander Madvi Hidma, saying he was not required for further investigation. Hearing the bail plea of Akshay E R, the court of District Judge Dharmendra Rana said, The applicant (Akshay) was arrested on November 23 and has been in continuous custody since then. It is submitted that the investigation is complete and thus no custodial detention of the applicant is required. The court noted that the co-accused in the case had been granted bail and that the accused had no past criminal antecedents. Considering the nature of the allegations, the period of incarceration, past criminal antecedents and on the ground of parity, the applicant is admitted to bail subject to furnishing of personal bond of Rs 50,000 with one surety of the like amount, the court said. The ..
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday said the proposed third district in the state will be called 'Kushavati', named after a river that flows through the region. It will be an aspirational district in the country, he said. At present, the coastal state comprises two districts - North Goa and South Goa. Talking to reporters, Sawant said the new district will comprise four talukas - Dharbandora, Quepem, Sanguem and Canacona - that are currently part of South Goa. "All the administrative works of the new district will be run from South Goa district till the infrastructure required for the new district is made available," the CM said. The new district will be named as Kushavati, a river that flows in these parts of Goa, he said. Till the time a full time collector is appointed in the nwe district, the responsibility will be handled by the collector of South Goa district, according to him. Quepem town will be the headquarters of the new district, which will be connected ...
Indian Railways has achieved a significant milestone in its journey towards self-reliant rail technology with the successful completion of the final high-speed trial of the indigenously designed Vande Bharat sleeper train, ministry officials said on Wednesday. "The trial, conducted under the supervision of the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS), took place on the Kota-Nagda section, where the train achieved a maximum speed of 180 kmph," it added, without specifying a new date for its launch. The Vande Bharat sleeper train has missed several launch deadlines in the past. In mid-November, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that this train would be launched in December 2025. Vaishnaw shared a video of the safety trial on his social media handle X on December 30, showcasing a water-glass stability demonstration, in which glasses filled with water remained steady without spillage even at high speed. "Vande Bharat Sleeper tested today by the Commissioner of Railway Safety, ran at 1
The Union Health Ministry has banned the manufacture, sale and distribution of all oral formulations containing the popular painkiller nimesulide above 100 mg, citing serious risks to health, an official notification said. The decision was taken following a recommendation by ICMR, the apex health research body of India, it said. "The Central government is satisfied that the use of all oral formulations containing Nimesulide above 100 mg in immediate release dosage form is likely to involve risk to human beings and that safer alternatives to the said drug are available," the notification issued on Monday said. It stated that it is necessary and expedient in the public interest to prohibit the manufacture, sale and distribution of the drug in the country for human use. "Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 26A of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and after consultation with the Drugs Technical Advisory Board, the Centre, hereby prohibits the manufacture, sal
Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday said the move to bring a resolution against the VB-G RAM G Act in the Punjab assembly was undemocratic and against the basic spirit of the Constitution, which reflected "blind opposition" politics. Addressing a press conference here, Chouhan said it is the Constitutional responsibility of states to abide by Parliamentary laws. The AAP government on Tuesday brought a resolution against the VB-G RAM G Act in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha and accused the BJP-led Centre of trying to finish the MGNREGA. Punjab Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Tarunpreet Singh Sond tabled the resolution in the House for discussion during the one-day session of the assembly. Chouhan targeted opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, saying he lives in a "world of imagination" and has no connection with the realities of the country. "Speaking out whatever comes to one's mind is not responsible politics," Chouhan said. He was referring to Gandhi's recent claim that
The Centre is in consultation with the stakeholders on requirements and impact of lateral entry recruitment, a top government official said on Tuesday. Lateral recruitment in the central government has been undertaken since 2018 to appoint persons for specific assignments, including those from the private sector, keeping in view their specialised knowledge and expertise in the domain area. Addressing a presser, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) Secretary Rachna Shah said almost 60 officers were taken under the lateral entry in three installments -- at the level of Joint Secretary and Deputy Secretary/Director -- and almost 38 to 40 of them are continuing and contributing in various ministries and departments. Shah said that "we are in consultation and discussion with the stakeholder ministries and departments". Asked if the government was considering forming new rules and procedures on lateral entry recruitment, she said if something comes up in the course of consultation
The Election Commission has revised the schedule for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh, with the draft voter list now slated to be published on January 6, 2026, and the final list on March 6, the state's Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said in a statement on Tuesday. According to the new schedule, claims and objections will be invited from January 6 to February 6, he said. Rinwa said the notice stage, disposal of claims and objections, and decisions on enumeration forms will continue from January 6 to February 27, after which the final electoral roll will be published on March 6. The revision of the schedule comes amid heightened scrutiny of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state, where a large-scale pruning of voter list has been carried out. The nearly 52-day SIR exercise, conducted with the theme 'Shuddh Nirvachak Namavali, Majboot Loktantra' (Clean Electoral Roll, Strong Democracy), began on November 4 and ...
The Delhi Police has busted a cyber fraud syndicate operating through a fraudulent stock trading application and apprehended two men from Haryana for allegedly cheating a woman of Rs 22.7 lakh, officials said on Tuesday. The probe began following a complaint lodged by Dr Amita Garg on November 13. The complainant alleged that she was added to a messaging app group 'Stan Chart Dialogue Forum L7', where administrators shared advice on D-mat share investments. DCP (Shahdara) Prashant Gautam said one of the group admins, identifying herself as Yalini Guna, persuaded the victim to invest via a mobile application and shared a download link. The complainant, initially, invested around Rs 2.7 lakh through multiple transactions. While the application displayed apparent profits, the victim was pressured to invest further sums when she attempted to withdraw her money. In total, she transferred Rs 22.70 lakh before being blocked from the app, police said. An e-FIR was filed under sections 318(
At least 32 people have fallen ill due to suspected water contamination in a locality in Madhya Pradesh's Indore city, prompting the administration to collect samples of drinking water for testing, officials said on Tuesday. According to a local councillor, an 80-year-old man among those affected died during treatment at a hospital. The administration, however, hasn't confirmed the death. Speaking to PTI, Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Dr Madhav Prasad Hassani said that at least 32 people from the Bhagirathpura area have been admitted to different hospitals in the city. "Patients complained of vomiting and diarrhoea after drinking contaminated water," he said. Hasani said drinking water samples have been collected for testing from the locality, and reports will arrive in 48 hours. Residents of Bhagirathpura said that they fell ill after consuming water from the Narmada River supplied to homes through municipal tap connections. "We have sent water samples for testing. We
Union Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to visit Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the first week of January to chair a meeting of the parliamentary consultative committee, an official said on Tuesday. Shah is likely to arrive here on January 2. He will be received by Lt Governor Admiral D K Joshi (Retd) at the airport, the official said. The Home minister will chair the Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting of the Ministry of Home Affairs on January 3, he said. "On January 3, Shah will interact with the Parliamentary Consultative Committee in Wandoor, and later he will attend an event on Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at Dr B R Ambedkar Institute of Technology (DBRAIT) auditorium in Dollygunj," the official said. Shah will depart from the archipelago on January 4. The Home minister had visited Andaman and Nicobar Islands on December 12 to commemorate the 116th anniversary of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar's (Veer Savarkar) iconic poem, 'Sagara Pran Talamala'. The Chief of Defence S
A PIL was filed in the Supreme Court seeking judicial intervention to address the "continuing constitutional failure" to prevent and respond to racial discrimination and violence against citizens from northeastern states and other frontier regions. The PIL was filed on December 28 in the backdrop of the brutal killing of Anjel Chakma, a 24-year-old MBA student from Tripura, who succumbed on December 27 to grievous injuries sustained in a racially motivated attack in Selaqui area of Dehradun. Anjel from Unakoti district's Machmara went to Dehradun after completing his graduation in Holy Cross School, Agartala, to pursue MBA, where he was stabbed to death in the presence of his younger brother Michael. The family members of Chakma want capital punishment or at least life imprisonment for all the accused involved in the incident. Anoop Prakash Awasthi, a Delhi-based lawyer, has made the Centre and all the states and Union territories as parties to the PIL. "That the present writ petit
Jammu and Kashmir's quest for restoration of statehood suffered twin blows during the year in the form of the Pahalgam terror attack and the Delhi car blast. The elected government led by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah made all the right noises in the first six months in office for the restoration of statehood, but the deadly strike by terrorists on tourists on Baisaran meadows of Pahalgam on April 22 put a halt to any immediate talk of Jammu and Kashmir's returning as a state. The terrorists shot dead 26 men -- 25 tourists and a local ponywalla. Survivors alleged that the assailants chose their targets after confirming that they were not Muslims a revelation that sent communal shockwaves to the rest of the country. The attack was denounced widely across the valley. For the first time in 35 years, spontaneous protests were held across the length and breadth of the valley in condemnation. The protestors unequivocally declared: "Not in my name." On May 7, the Indian forces launched