Latest News LIVE: Schools in Andhra Pradesh to reopen from November 2

NCB has opposed the bail pleas filed by actress Rhea Chakraborty and Showik Chakraborty in the Bombay High Court following their arrest in a drugs case. Stay tuned for Latest LIVE news

10:26 PM

Farm laws will help hoarders: Mamata

Hitting out at the Centre over the contentious farm laws, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday that this legislation would devastate the farmers of the country and help the hoarders.
 

Addressing an administrative meeting at branch secretariat' Uttar Kanya' here, Banerjee said she would speak to officials of the agricultural department and take steps to protect the interest of the farmers.
 

"The farm laws will devastate the farmers of the country. It will only help the hoarders. We will soon convene a meeting of officials to see what can be done to protect the interest of the farmers," she said.
 

Banerjee also slammed the Centre's decision to remove cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion and potatoes from the list of essential commodities as "anti-people and disastrous".
 

The opposition parties, including Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, have been protesting three farm sector laws enacted by the Narendra Modi government, alleging these are "anti- farmer measures" and will "destroy" the agriculture sector.
 

The government has, however, asserted that the new laws would free farmers from the clutches of middleman and allow them to sell their produce anywhere they want at a remunerative price.
 

9:58 PM

Modi expresses grief over the demise of Amir of the State of Kuwait

9:56 PM

We don't confirm any speculation running in media: Dr Sudhir Gupta, chairman of AIIMS' medical board in SSR case

9:00 PM

NHPC eyes Rs 8,900 cr revenue from operations in 2020-21

State-run hydro power giant NHPC on Tuesday said it is eyeing a revenue of Rs 8,900 crore and electricity generation of 27,500 million units (MUs) in the current financial year under an agreement with the government.

The NHPC Ltd has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Tuesday with the Ministry of Power, Government of India for 2020-21, a company statement said.

The MOU was signed by Power Secretary Sanjiv Nandan Sahai and NHPC chairman and managing director A K Singh.

 

8:56 PM

Seven-member ECI team led by CEC arrives to fine-tune arrangements for Bihar polls

A seven-member Election Commission of India team led by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora arrived here Tuesday evening to review preparedness for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections. Election Commissioners Sushil Chandra and Rajiv Kumar are part of the high-level poll panel team to the state.

 

Over the next two days, the Commission will be meeting representatives of the political parties, Chief Electoral Officer & local administration officers at Patna and Gaya.

8:53 PM

Credit demand from priority sectors drops to 1.9% in June quarter: Report

Despite many efforts by the government to boost credit supply by offering many a scheme to MSMEs and other priority sectors, the same has plunged to a low 1.9 per cent in the June quarter from 10.2 per cent a year ago, says a report.

 

To help small business tide over the impact of the pandemic, the government has offered credit-driven boost to the economy.

 

Quoting data from the Reserve Banks' quarterly statistics on deposits and credit for the June quarter, Care Ratings on Tuesday said in absolute terms, overall bank deposits stood at Rs 141.3 lakh crore in June 2020, up 11.5 per cent from Rs 126.7 lakh crore in June 2019. Outstanding credit stood at Rs 103.3 lakh crore, up 6.4 per cent but lower than 11.7 per cent in the same period in June 2019.

8:45 PM

India among worst-performing economies; stimulus lacking: Abhijit Banerjee

Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee on Tuesday said India is among the worst performing economies in the world and the government's economic stimulus was inadequate to tackle the problem. He, however, said that the country will see a revival in growth in the July-September quarter of the current fiscal.

 

Speaking at a virtual event,Banerjee said the country's economic growth was slowing down even before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

 

"Indian economy is among the worst performing in the world. The country's economy will see revival in the current quarter (July-September)," he said, adding that economic growth in 2021 is going to be better than this year.

8:29 PM

West Bengal govt moves HC against fencing at Poush Mela ground

The West Bengal government on Tuesday prayed before the Calcutta High Court for a stay on a decision by a court-appointed committee allowing fencing of the Poush Mela ground at Shantiniketan, even as the state's advocate general expressed his desire to be excluded from the panel.

 

Visva-Bharati authorities started erecting a fence around the ground on Monday following a direction by the committee, which includes two sitting judges of the high court.

 

Incidents of violence and vandalism had occurred on August 17 over the Visva-Bharati's attempt to construct a boundary wall around the Poush Mela ground.

8:11 PM

Schools in Andhra Pradesh to reopen on November 2

Schools in Andhra Pradesh would be re-opened for the 2020-21 academic year on November 2, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy announced here on Tuesday. "We wanted to open the schools on October 5, but in view of the prevailing situation, we have now decided to re-open them on November 2," the Chief Minister told district Collectors during a video conference.

 

Schools remained shut due to the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic in the current academic year.

 

The state government initially announced September 5 as the re-opening day and later deferred it to October 5.

8:04 PM

E-commerce firms to create 300,000 jobs this festive season: Report

About 300,000 jobs are expected to be created by various e-commerce and logistics companies during this year's festive season, a report by RedSeer said on Tuesday. Most of the hiring by e-commerce platforms ahead of festive season is temporary and done ahead of time to prepare for surge in orders during the various sale periods.

 

However, about 20 per cent of these temporary workers are not let go at the end of festive season, RedSeer said.

 

About 70 per cent of these three lakh jobs are expected to be offered by online platforms like Amazon and Flipkart, while the remaining will be by logistics players like Ecomm Express and others, the report noted.

 

7:53 PM

Delhi's air quality 'moderate', likely to turn 'poor' by Friday: IMD

The national capital's air quality was recorded in the 'moderate' category on Tuesday, while a government forecasting agency said it is likely to turn 'poor' by Friday.

 

Delhi recorded a 24-hour average air quality index (AQI) of 177, which falls in the 'moderate' category. It was 159 on Monday.

 

An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'.

7:42 PM

BJP announces candidates list for Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council

7:27 PM

Amnesty's statement far from truth, attempt to influence probe into its illegalities: MHA

Home Ministry on Tuesday said Amnesty International's statement that it was being subjected to an "incessant witch-hunt" was unfortunate, exaggerated and far from the truth. The Union Home Ministry said all the "glossy statements" about humanitarian work and speaking truth to power are nothing but a "ploy to divert attention" from their activities which were in clear contravention of laid down Indian laws.

 

"Such statements are also an attempt to extraneously influence the course of investigations by multiple agencies into the irregularities and illegalities carried out over the last few years," the home ministry said in a detailed statement.

 

The home ministry said that Amnesty International had received permission under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) only once and that too 20 years ago, (on December 19, 2000).

7:11 PM

Jabalpur airport getting upgraded, to handle 500 passengers

7:03 PM

Jio seeks early spectrum auction, says policy pause to hurt national exchequer

Telecom major Reliance Jio has questioned the Department of Telecom's rationale to pause the policy of annual spectrum auction and demanded that the sale of airwaves should be held at the earliest to meet the demand for data services in the country.

 

Mukesh Ambani-led Jio in a letter dated September 28 to Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash said that the nation-building policies should not be kept hostage to the vested interest of few operators and delay in auction is hurting the national exchequer as well as making investors jittery as perceived against the principle of ease of doing business.

 

The telecom major said that any delay in auction of unutilised spectrum will lead to serious issues around quality of mobile services in terms of call drops etc and also result in "revenue loss to the government."