Pannimadai Village (Coimbatore), Mar 27 (ANI): Locals staged protest in Coimbatore's Pannimadai village today over alleged gang-rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl. Police has arrested two persons in this case. Search operation for three other accused is still underway. Villagers demanded immediate arrest of all the accused in this regard.
West Godavari District (Andhra Pradesh), Mar 27 (ANI): In separate incidents, police seized Rs 10 lakh and Rs 2 lakh unaccounted cash and 40 liquor bottles, in Bhimavaram, West Godavari. One person has been arrested.
Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Mar 27 (ANI): Women and Child Welfare Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Rita Bahuguna Joshi said that her party will win with a huge margin. She said, "The way we have a wave of Modi ji, the way nation trusts in Modi ji, India is safe in hands of Modi ji, so our leadership is good."
New Delhi, Mar 27 (ANI): Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, speaking to ANI on various political issues, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi said, "I am thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah for giving me this opportunity and I will try my best to win this seat for them. There are challenges while winning any elections but we are hopeful that we will do it successfully." While responding on minimum income guarantee scheme announced by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Maneka took jibe and added, "I don't answer to 'Sheikh Chilli' (day-dreamer)."
New Delhi, Mar 27 (ANI): While talking to ANI Congress leader PC Chacko said, "Why 'NYAY scheme' is being opposed even before we announced that? Now BJP thinks that we have something which is going to attract the attention of the public and the poor of the country. This is a novel scheme which PM Modi could not think in the last five years. Nobody could ever think of that". Congress had earlier said that NYAY scheme is based on Amartya Sen's poverty index.
New Delhi, Mar 27 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India has entered its name as an elite space power. He said, "Today, we have enough satellites that are contributing in various segments such as agriculture, disaster management, communication, weather, navigation etc." He added, "A-SAT missile will give new strength to India's space programme. I assure international community that our capability won't be used against anyone but is purely India's defence initiative for its security. We're against arms raised in space. This test won't breach any international law or treaties."
New Delhi, Mar 27 (ANI): Thousands of accounts, which were found engaging in coordinated unauthentic behaviour, have been removed from Facebook and Instagram. Facebook announced on its blog that 2,632 Pages, Groups, and accounts found connected to Iran, Russia, Macedonia, and Kosovo have been removed. These accounts used tactics such as creating networks of accounts to mislead other users into who they were and what they were doing, Facebook explained in its blog. Some accounts engaged in spam, while some were found engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior as part of multiple networks tied to Iran. Some of these accounts operated in Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Kashmir, and Kazakhstan. The account owners represented themselves as locals and made-up media entities using fake accounts and impersonated real political groups and media organisations to spread news stories on the current events. Shockingly, millions of users followed one or more of these Pages and joined these
Lucknow (UP), Mar 27 (ANI): Bhojpuri and Bollywood actor Ravi Kishan on Wednesday cleared the air over joining Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He said that he will contest Lok Sabha election 2019 from BJP and the party will decide from where he will be contesting in the election. "BJP is favorite of everyone and anyone can win election from anywhere in BJP, with BJP I can win election anywhere in India" said Kishan.
Baramulla (J and K), Mar 27 (ANI): While addressing a public rally in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party (JKPDP) leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig said, "We are ready to offer Jamaat-e-Islami and Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front legal assistance, whether in Jammu and Kashmir High Court or Supreme court, provided they trust us". The Central government has imposed ban on Jamaat-e-Islami and has declared it as an unlawful association.
Chennai, Mar 27 (ANI): Former finance minister and Congress veteran leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday backed minimum income guarantee poll promise made by party president Rahul Gandhi. Pitching a strong defence to the scheme, he said that Congress believes that India has capacity to implement the scheme. "Size of India's economy today is Rs 200 Lakh Cr and in nominal terms it'll increase by about 12% per year. In about 6 yrs it'll double. So in 5 yr b/w 2019-2024 size of India's GDP would've grown from about Rs 200 Lakh Cr to Rs 400 Lakh Cr," said Chidambaram. "Expenditure of GoI and all states put together is about Rs 60 Lakh Cr, revenues are growing at about 18% so amount available to central and state government will double in about 5 yrs. So we believe India has capacity to implement this programme," he added.
Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Mar 27 (ANI): Congress general secretary for UP (East), Priyanka Gandhi Vadra arrived in Lucknow today. She is scheduled to visit Amethi and Rae Bareli today and tomorrow. She will also visit Ayodhya on March 29.
New Delhi, Mar 27 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India has entered its name as an elite space power. He said, "So far only 3 countries in the world, United States of America, Russia and China had this advantage. An anti-satellite weapon A-SAT, successfully targeted a live satellite on a low earth orbit". He further added, "Mission Shakti operation was a difficult target to achieve which was completed successfully within three minutes of launch".
Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh), Mar 27 (ANI): Ahead of Lok Sabha elections, a district hospital in Chhattisgarh's Jagdalpur took an initiative to create awareness among voters. The hospital staff stamped 'Vote daalne jana hai, apna farz nibhana hai' on OPD registration forms to create awareness. Lok Sabha elections in the state will be held in three phases on 11th April, 18th April and 23rd April.
Srinagar (J and K), Mar 27 (ANI): National general secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Ram Madhav said that they (BJP) have asked Election Commission of India (ECI) to hold Assembly elections in the state as early as possible. Speaking to media, Madhav said, "In order to have successful elections in Jammu and Kashmir just like the rest of the country, and to protect the democratic rights of citizens we have decided to conduct the parliament election on time."
Shivamogga (Karnataka), Mar 27 (ANI): Special shed has been built by administration ahead of Lok Sabha elections in Shivamogga, Karnataka. Election team and voters can take shelter in these sheds. During summer, this region gets humid and hot at mid day and at evening rain comes with thunder and lightning. Facilities have been provided as the election staff works round the clock during elections. Reliving staff can also take rest in these sheds.
Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Mar 27 (ANI): Locals celebrated Ganga Festival in Uttar Pradesh' Kanpur on Tuesday. They played with colours and water to celebrate the festival. It is celebrated on 'Anuradha Nakshatra' every year with great pomp. Since independence, this festival is only celebrated in Kanpur and it has a story behind it. During the era of British rule, some locals threw colours on Britishers unintentionally after which they got arrested. They were released on the day of 'Anuradha Nakshatra'. Since then, the locals of Kanpur are celebrating the festival with all the pomp.
Muzaffarpur (Bihar), Mar 27 (ANI): A group of people thrashed police personnel over stopping violation of traffic rules in Bihar's Muzaffarpur. The offenders are reported to be an auto rikshaw driver and his friends. They assaulted police personnel on stopping them from driving on the wrong side at Aghoria Bazar chowk in Muzaffarpur. The police personnel is admitted in a hospital. Police is on the lookout for accused.
Doda (JandK), Mar 27 (ANI): Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, around 1800 personnel underwent training to be deployed as presiding officers and polling officers. The training session included videos demonstrating duties of the polling personnel and hands-on training on use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). They also got special training on the use of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT). There are over 350 polling stations in Doda district and the training programmes are organised on the directions of ECO under supervision of District Election Officer of Doda. The trainers explained them the functioning of Ballot Unit, Control Unit and other allied functions and operations of the electronic voting machines for a secure voting experience of voters.
Haldwani (Uttarakhand), Mar 27 (ANI): As many as 500 families have decided to boycott the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Jeetpur Negi village of Uttarakhand's Haldwani. It is alleged that their name is neither included in Municipal Corporation nor in Gram Panchayat. As a result, hundreds of voters are deprived of their votes. Villagers have requested the politicians not to campaign for votes.
Aurangabad (Maharashtra), Mar 27 (ANI): More than 40 students of a Madarsa in Maharashtra's Aurangabad were admitted to a hospital after eating food. Officials said that it was a case of food poisoning. All the children are reported out of danger.