Page 4 - Uttar Pradesh

UP teen's live 'suicide' on Facebook triggers alert, turns out to be prank

A 17-year-old girl went live on Facebook, apparently attempting suicide. The video, showing her consuming pills while a melancholic song played on, triggered an automatic alert from Meta AI to the Gorakhpur police, who rushed in only to find it was a prank. She captioned the video, addressing it to her friends, "If I die, don't ask why I died. Just think for yourself what could have been the reason." Responding promptly upon receiving the alert, a police team traced her location and reached a rented room in the Gulriha area. During questioning, she revealed that the video was merely a prank for her friends, a police officer said. The girl, a native of Gopalganj district in Bihar, works as a chef at a local hotel and is active on social media, Gulriha Station House Officer (SHO) Vijay Pratap Singh said. She also told the police that the "pills" in the video was chewing gum, and she had no intention of harming herself. Confirming the incident, the officer said, the police responded

EC launches 'Book-a-Call with BLO' facility for UP electoral roll revision

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched a "Book-a-Call with BLO" facility to make voter services more accessible during the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh, even as the claims and objections period remains open till February 6, 2026. According to an official statement, voters can now book a phone call with their respective booth level officer (BLO) to seek information or assistance related to the electoral roll, including inclusion, deletion or correction of details. The service is available through the ECI portal voters.eci.gov.in and the ECINET mobile application. After logging in with a registered mobile number or completing the sign-up process using an OTP, voters can book a call by entering their EPIC or reference number, or alternatively by providing details such as state, district, assembly constituency and booth number. The concerned BLO will contact the voter within 48 hours. The draft electoral roll for Uttar Pradesh

Surge in non-NCR regions pushes 19% rise in new project registration in UP

Uttar Pradesh saw a 19% rise in real estate project registrations in 2025, with non-NCR cities driving more balanced growth, UP Rera data showed

Over ₹34,000 cr investment made in UP's defence corridor nodes: Rajnath

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said Uttar Pradesh has emerged as a major hub of defence manufacturing, with investments of over Rs 34,000 crore already made across six nodes of the state's defence corridor, marking a decisive shift towards India's self-reliance in weapons and ammunition production. Addressing a gathering after inaugurating Ashok Leyland's state-of-the-art electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing plant here, Singh said India is no longer dependent on other countries for weapons, missiles or defence equipment, as these are now being manufactured domestically, including in Uttar Pradesh. He said the defence corridor, spread across Lucknow, Kanpur, Jhansi, Agra, Aligarh and Chitrakoot, is producing arms, ammunition and equipment related to fighter aircraft, with large companies setting up manufacturing units in the state. "I have been told that investments worth around Rs 34,000 crore have been made in these defence corridor nodes," Singh said. Referring to the Ut

Uttar Pradesh govt announces sops for GCCs and semiconductor plants

Uttar Pradesh unveils fresh incentives for GCCs and large semiconductor projects to boost FDI and advance its $1 trillion economy ambition

New sugarcane variety 'Bismil' gets nod for cultivation in 4 more states

The Uttar Pradesh Sugarcane Research Council, Shahjahanpur, has developed a new high-yielding sugarcane variety named 'Bismil', after freedom fighter Ram Prasad Bismil, which has now been approved for cultivation in four more states, officials said on Thursday. The variety, earlier approved only for Uttar Pradesh, has received clearance for cultivation in Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Rajasthan following approval by the central committee, Council Director V K Shukla said. Developed under the All India Coordinated Research Project of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the variety is officially designated as CoSha 17231 (Coimbatore-Shahjahanpur). It is resistant to red rot disease, a major threat to sugarcane crops, and has an average yield potential of 86.35 tonnes per hectare with a sugar recovery (pol per cent in cane) of 13.97 per cent, its breeder Dr Arvind Kumar said. Senior scientist Ajay Tiwari said the new variety would significantly boost farmers' incom

Sambhal authorities give 15 days to remove mosque, shrine on graveyard land

The Sambhal administration has issued an ultimatum to a committee overseeing a shrine and a mosque built on land recorded as a graveyard in the Chaudhary Sarai area to remove the "illegal" structures, officials said on Wednesday. Tehsildar Dhirendra Pratap Singh visited the site and served a notice, warning of legal action if compliance is not ensured. Speaking to reporters, the tehsildar said the land is officially recorded as a graveyard, but a mosque and a shrine associated with Dada Fakhruddin Rehmatullah have been constructed on it. He said that a large market is held at the site every Friday, but its organisers now must obtain permission from the sub-divisional magistrate before holding it. "The land is registered as a graveyard. It should be used only for burial purposes and not for a mosque or any other structure," Singh said. He added that the committee has sought 15 days and assured the administration that the weekly market would be discontinued and the structures remove

SIR: Lucknow, Ghaziabad top in delisted voters; Bundelkhand least hit

Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Balrampur and Kanpur Nagar are among the top districts in Uttar Pradesh that have recorded the highest percentage of electors whose forms remained uncollected during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll, according to official data. Districts like Lalitpur, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Jhansi and Chitrakoot in the Bundelkhand region of the state had the least removals from the draft roll. The draft electoral roll published on Tuesday after the SIR excludes 2.89 crore voters but retains 12.55 crore. The 2.89 crore voters, or 18.70 per cent, of the 15.44 crore listed earlier could not be included in the draft list due to deaths, permanent migration or multiple registrations, UP Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said. According to district-wise draft roll data published on January 6, Lucknow topped the list with 30.04 per cent uncollected forms, involving about 12 lakh electors. The district's electorate declined from 39.94 lakh in October 2025 to 27.

UP SIR draft voter list out: 28.9 million dropped, 125.5 million retained

The draft electoral roll for Uttar Pradesh was published on Tuesday after a special intensive revision (SIR) exercise, with 12.55 crore voters retained out of 15.44 crore listed earlier, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Navdeep Rinwa said on Tuesday. The remaining 18.70 per cent, or about 2.89 crore voters, could not be included in the draft list due to deaths, permanent migration or multiple registrations, he said while addressing a press conference here. Rinwa said the Election Commission had undertaken a door-to-door enumeration drive in which enumeration forms were to be filled and signed by voters or their family members. While the exercise was originally scheduled to end on December 11, the state sought an additional 15 days after noticing that the names of a large number of voters, nearly 2.97 crore, were getting excluded from the draft list.

UP tops 'Deregulation 1.0' rankings for investment-friendly states

Uttar Pradesh has emerged as the leading state in implementing reforms for making business operations simpler, transparent and investment-friendly in the 23 key priority areas identified by the Centre, officials said on Monday. As per the state-wise ranking under the 'Deregulation 1.0' report of the central government, the state has been ranked first, a statement issued here said. The assessment focused on the effective implementation of 23 priority reform areas spanning five major sectors -- land, building and construction, labour, utilities and permissions -- along with overarching reform priorities. Uttar Pradesh is the first state in the country to fully implement all 23 priority areas in a comprehensive manner, the statement said. Under the land-related reforms, the state adopted a flexible zoning framework enabling mixed-use development, simplified and digitised the land-use change process and rationalised minimum road width norms for industries in rural areas, it noted. "In

UP govt grants 3-year one-time age relaxation for 32,679 police posts

The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday announced a one-time relaxation of three years in the upper age limit for the upcoming police recruitment drive, offering major relief to aspirants preparing for constable-level posts. The age relaxation will apply to all categories of candidates for the proposed 2025 direct recruitment to the police force, following the directions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, an official government statement issued here said. The decision is expected to benefit aspirants who missed earlier recruitment opportunities due to age limits, especially after delays caused by the pandemic period, officials said. The decision has been taken under the provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Public Services (Relaxation of Age Limit for Recruitment) Rules, 1992, it added. The relaxation will cover recruitment to 32,679 posts, including constable (civil police) for men and women, PAC and armed police constables, special security force constables, women battalion constables,

UP Board Exam 2026: Pre-Board exam schedule released for classes 10, 12

Class 10 and 12 UP Board pre-board exams are scheduled for January 8-21, 2026. Check the full timetable, its significance as essential rehearsal for main boards for students

Land acquisition for townships near UP's religious cities in last stages

Ayodhya, Varanasi & Mathura in top bracket, says Housing Commissioner Balkar Singh

UP SIR: Permanent migration led to 28.8 mn uncollectable voter forms

Permanent migration has emerged as the primary reason for electoral discrepancies in Uttar Pradesh, accounting for nearly 1.30 crore of the 2.88 crore uncollectable electoral forms identified during the Special Intensive Revision. Official data as of December 27, 2025, shows that permanent shifting of voters constitutes 8.40 per cent of the total electorate. Election officials said this trend reflects large-scale inter-district and inter-state migration, with the highest impact observed in urban and semi-urban areas. Apart from 1,29,77,472 cases of permanent shifting, the second largest category includes untraceable or absent electors. This accounts for 79,52,190 cases, or 5.15 per cent of the electorate, and is largely attributed to temporary migration, frequent changes in residence and inaccurate addresses. Deaths of registered voters accounted for 46,23,796 forms, or 2.99 per cent of the electorate, indicating outdated entries in the rolls due to the time gap between revisions, .

Death of relationships: Broken families behind UP's most violent crimes

In a year when Uttar Pradesh grappled with violent crime, some of the most disturbing cases were not about strangers or organised gangs, but about families imploding from within where trust collapsed, blood ties snapped, and relationships ended not in separation but in death. Police records, post-mortem reports and court proceedings across districts told variations of the same story of relationships curdling into hostility and private disputes turning fatal. One of the most chilling cases surfaced in September when police in Sambhal uncovered what they described as an "insurance mafia" operating from within a family. It was alleged that Vishal Singhal killed his parents years apart and later his ex-wife, to claim insurance payouts exceeding Rs 50 crore. His mother's death in 2017 and his father's death in April this year were projected as road accidents and quietly closed at the time. It was only after a woman from Meerut approached police that the pattern emerged 64 insurance ..

UP in 2025: Waqf reforms, madrasa overhaul, mosque disputes shape politics

An order for eateries to display their names, termed "religious profiling" by a section, police arrests over 'I Love Mohammad' banners, and waqf property registration hogged the headlines in Uttar Pradesh for a good part of the year. The Uttar Pradesh government persisted in framing laws for the mosques and other Muslim structures, moves that only met with tacit approval from the community, and at times outright rejection. During July-August, Hindu activists inspecting roadside eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route sparked a controversy. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi criticised the action, alleging that goons also forced dhaba owners on the Delhi-Dehradun highway to lower their pants to ascertain their religion. Former Samajwadi Party MP S T Hasan condemned the rule that stipulated that eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route display their credentials. In April, the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, was implemented after completion of the consultati

UP SIR schedule revised: Draft electoral roll on Jan 6, final on Mar 6

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 ...

Around 22 'illegal' structures on Sambhal graveyard land set to get notice

The revenue department here on Tuesday carried out the measurement of a graveyard land near a disputed religious site amid tight security and identified 22 houses and shops allegedly built through encroachment, officials said. The administration conducted the demarcation of land in Kot Purvi locality, which has been recorded as a graveyard in revenue records and found that parts of it were under illegal occupation, they said. District Magistrate Rajendra Pensiya told reporters that after receiving an oral complaint followed by a written representation, a revenue team measured plot number 32/2, covering an area of 4,780 square metres, adjacent to the disputed site. "The land is recorded 100 per cent as a graveyard. During the measurement, 22 houses and shops were identified as encroachments. Notices will be issued to the occupants seeking documents, following which action will be taken as per law," he said. Pensiya said the encroachments were both old and recent, some dating back ..

CM Adityanath calls 2026 a 'defining year', pitches UP as AI, tech hub

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday termed 2026 a decisive year for Uttar Pradesh's technological advancement, saying the state is emerging as a global hub for artificial intelligence and the digital economy. In a detailed message in Hindi on X, the chief minister said 2025 will be remembered for setting new benchmarks in innovation, data, and, future-oriented development as the state works to become a future-ready investment hub. Adityanath said investment can thrive only when the state and society are secure. He said strong governance has strengthened "Brand UP" globally and transformed the state into a trusted destination of investors. The chief minister said preparations are underway to develop AI cities in Lucknow and Noida, while a semiconductor unit worth Rs 3,700 crore is being set up in Jewar. He pointed out that a data centre policy, which focuses on indigenous centres and secure data, is already showing results. Five hyperscale data centre parks are now operational

Rabies fear in UP: Can milk from infected animal transmit the deadly virus?

A suspected rabies case in a buffalo sent panic through a UP village, with hundreds rushing for vaccines after learning funeral raita was made from its milk. But was the fear justified?