Breaking News July 14 | Top Headlines

Prices of all kinds of liquor will be increased by 20% from tomorrow in Puducherry: Excise Department

Reports that stock limits will be removed on pulses are incorrect, there is no move to lift stock limits: News agency ANI quotes govt sources

Assam Cabinet has decided that liquor will be sold online in Guwahati for a month on an experimental basis. If it succeeds, we will expand it to the entire state: Assam Minister Pijush Hazarika

Rajasthan government has decided to increase dearness allowance of state government employees & pensioners from 17% to 28%, applicable from July 1, 2021: Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot 

EAM S Jaishankar holds a one-hour bilateral meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister & State Councilor, Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Dushanbe SCO Foreign Ministers Meeting. "Discussions focused on the outstanding issues along the LAC in the Western Sector," the EAM tweets

Madhya Pradesh: The results of Class 10 board exams have been announced, where 100% students have passed for first time.

COVID-19 restrictions in West Bengal extended up to 30th July 2021. 

Metro rail to operate 5 days a week with 50% seating capacity, suspended on Saturday-Sunday. Not more than 50 people at weddings & 20 at funerals allowed. All shops & markets may remain open as per usual operational hrs

Piyush Goyal has been chosen as the new leader of the house in Rajya Sabha. Earlier, it was held by Thawarchand Gehlot. 

Police on Wednesday seized 550 gm of brown sugar and cash Rs 34 lakh from a house in the state capital here, a senior officer said. Two persons including a woman were arrested in this connection, Commissioner of Police (CP) Soumendra Priyadarshi told reporters. He said the value of the seized brown sugar is Rs 55 lakh. Following a tip-off, the narcotic wing of the Commissionerate of Police along with the personnel of Saheed Nagar police station raided a house at Kesura and seized the brown sugar packets and Rs 34,80,000 in cash. The seizure of huge cash along with the brown sugar is said to be the first of its kind in the state.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla writes to Chief Secretaries and Administrators of State/UTs, urging them to issue strict directions to the district and other local authorities to regulate the crowded places and take necessary measures for the management of COVID-19

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has announced a waiver of Rs 590 crore worth of loans under the farm debt waiver scheme for labourers & the landless farming community. The cheques would be issued at a state-level function on August 20: Chief Minister's Office (CMO)

A TMC delegation will meet Election Commission officials on July 15 to demand conduct of bypolls and pending elections to seven assembly seats of West Bengal, as the Covid situation has eased considerably. The byelections are of critical importance to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who lost the assembly poll to BJP's Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram. The Constitution allows a person to occupy a ministerial position only up to six months without getting elected to a state legislature or the two Houses of Parliament. 

Schools for classes 11 and 12 in Madhya Pradesh will reopen with 50 per cent capacity beginning July 26 given a significant fall in the daily COVID-19 cases, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Wednesday. He said schools for junior classes will be allowed to reopen gradually depending upon the situation. Chouhan made this announcement while dedicating a building of Vidya Bharati, a wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), to the people in Bhopal. 

The initial public offering of food delivery platform Zomato opened on Wednesday, with more than 36 per cent of shares offered being subscribed in the initial hours. The offer received bids for 26.10 crore equity shares against an IPO size of 71.92 crore, stock exchange data showed. Retail investors sought 1.91 times the portion reserved for them. Against 12.95 crore shares reserved for retail individual investors, 24.76 crore shares were bid by 13.30 hours. Non-institutional investors put in bids for 7 per cent against their reserved portion.

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to hear Delhi Liquor Sales Association's challenge to the Delhi government's new Excise Policy 2021-22, saying the issue is already before the court. Justice Rekha Palli noted that a similar challenge by Readymade Plaza India Pvt Ltd was being heard by the bench headed by the Chief Justice and directed that Association's plea be also listed before that bench on July 22.

“List on July 22 (before the bench headed by the Chief Justice) subject to the orders of the Chief Justice," the judge said.

The Gujarat government suspended the COVID-19 vaccination drive on Wednesday in view of Mamata Diwas, which is observed as part of the ongoing universal immunisation programme for pregnant women, children and infants, an official said. This is the second week in a row that the inoculation drive against coronavirus has been suspended on a Wednesday due to Mamata Diwas.

During Mamata Diwas, healthcare workers across the state check on pregnant women, provide them guidance and give them iron and vitamin tablets. Health workers also administer vaccines, such as BCG, polio and rubella, to women, children and infants.

The national capital receives heavy rainfall

The decision to contest the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly election alone will be taken by the party, like Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) took decision in 2014, we have our own strategy: Maharashtra Congress Chief Nana Patole

Punjab: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) workers protest outside the residence of state minister Bharat Bhushan in Ludhiana, demanding the arrest of Lok Insaf Party (LIP) MLA Simranjit Singh Bains, in an alleged rape case

Foreign ministers of India, China, Pakistan and five other member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) began a key meeting of the grouping in Dushanbe on Wednesday with a focus on the evolving situation in Afghanistan. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is representing India at the SCO foreign ministers' meeting.

"SCO FMM begins. 20th year is an opportune time to reflect on achievements & deliberate on challenges. Afghanistan and post-Covid recovery are pressing concerns," Jaishankar tweeted.
 

Satyadev Narayan Arya takes oath as Governor of Tripura

Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel speaks on Population Control Bill

The new union cabinet meets at 7 LKM, Prime Minister's official residence

Wholesale price-based inflation eases to 12.07% in June 2021 as compared to 12.94% in May: Ministry of Commerce & Industry

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said each family in Goa will get up to 300 units electricity-free per month if his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is voted to power in the state Assembly elections. Elections to the 40-member Goa Legislative Assembly are scheduled for February next year.

"Every family will get up to 300 units per month free electricity,” Kejriwal told reporters here.“If people in Delhi can get free electricity, then why not free power for people in Goa,” he said.

Despite Goa being a power-surplus state, there are frequent power cuts in the coastal state, he added. Kejriwal slammed MLAs who left Congress and other parties to join the BJP after the last Assembly elections in Goa. Going by the numbers, those who should have been in opposition are now ruling the state and those who should have been in power are now in the opposition, he added.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday took cognisance of the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to allow 'Kanwar Yatra' in the state in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. A bench headed by Justice RF Nariman issued a notice to the state government and posted the matter for hearing on Friday.

The Yogi Adityanath government on Tuesday allowed the yatra from July 25 despite concerns raised in various quarters over the risk posed by such events in triggering a possible third wave of COVID-19.

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has started his fast against dowry. The ‘fast against dowry’ is being organized by Gandhian organizations, says Governor's office. The Governor will join the protest at Gandhi Bhavan from 4.30 pm to 6 pm today 

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi has called an all-party meeting at 11 am on July 18

A Lucknow court has directed the police to register and investigate an FIR against former Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board chairman, Wasim Rizvi, filed in connection with an alleged rape complaint. The order was passed on Tuesday by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate A.K. Srivastava on an application moved by the victim under Section 156(3) of CrPC. Passing the order, the court has summoned a copy of the FIR from the Saadatganj police station within three days.

Sri Lanka has cut back on imports of farm chemicals, cars and even its staple spice turmeric as its foreign exchange reserves dwindle, hindering its ability to repay a mountain of debt as the South Asian island nation struggles to recover from the pandemic. Toothbrush handles, venetian blinds, strawberries, vinegar, wet wipes and sugar are among the hundreds of foreign-made goods that were banned or made subject to special licensing requirements meant to chip away at a trade deficit that has been deepening the country's financial quandary for years. 

With the addition of 336 more coronavirus positive cases, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra mounted to 5,38,471, an official said on Wednesday. These new cases were reported on Tuesday, he said. With ten more persons succumbing to the viral infection, the overall death toll in the Thane district rose to 10,864. The mortality rate is 2.01 per cent now, he added.

India reports 38,792 new COVID-19 cases, 41,000 recoveries, and 624 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per Health Ministry

Total cases: 3,09,46,074
Total recoveries: 3,01,04,720
Active cases: 4,29,946
Death toll: 4,11,408 

Total vaccinated: 38,76,97,935 (37,14,441 in last 24 hrs)

Equity benchmark Sensex dropped over 100 points in early trade on Wednesday, tracking losses in index majors ICICI Bank, HDFC twins and Reliance Industries amid a negative trend in global markets. The 30-share BSE index was trading 104.99 points or 0.20 per cent lower at 52,664.74 in initial deals, while the broader NSE Nifty slipped 31.80 points or 0.20 per cent to 15,780.55.

Uttarakhand: Four bodies recovered from Boh valley till last night, a total of five bodies have been recovered so far. Five to six persons still went missing. Rescue operation resumed early morning today: Kangra District Commissioner Nipun Jindal

43,59,73,639 samples tested for COVID-19 up to 13th July 2021. Of these, 19,15,501 samples were tested yesterday: Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)

Heavy rainfall causes waterlogging in Mumbai's Sion area

Britain has reported another 36,660 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 5,191,459, according to official figures released on Tuesday.

It is for the seventh day in a row that the daily number of new cases in Britain has exceeded 30,000.

An official under NREGA sustained burn injuries after a village sarpanch set him ablaze in Telangana on Tuesday. The incident occurred at Sanvli village under Kubheer mandal in Nirmal district. The technical assistant sustained about 50 per cent burn injuries and has been admitted to a hospital in Bhainsa, the police said.

The DSPs of Indirapuram and Kavi Nagar circles have swapped their posts while five inspectors were transferred in a minor reshuffle within Ghaziabad police, officials said on Tuesday. Anshu Jain, who was in-charge of Indirapuram circle, has been sent to Kavi Nagar. During her stint, she looked after the law and order situation during farmers' protest at Ghazipur and the exodus of stranded migrants during the first national lockdown last year as the two main border points of Delhi come under the jurisdiction of Indirapuram.

A major tragedy was averted as security forces detected and destroyed an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by militants under a chinar tree in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Wednesday.

"An IED was spotted under a chinar tree on the outskirts of village Damjen in Qazigund area," a police spokesman said.

He said the area was immediately cordoned off by police, Army and CRPF personnel and a bomb disposal squad was called to the spot.

"The IED was neutralised and destroyed in-situ," he said, adding a case has been registered in this regard.

On the intervening night of July 13-14th, a blinking red light was observed by troops in Arnia sector. Alert troops fired from their position towards red blinking light, due to which it returned back. The area being searched. Nothing found so far: Border Security Force

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar, likely to hold a bilateral meet with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi today on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers meet in Tajikistan

Delhi reports 76 new COVID cases (positivity rate - 0.11%), 84 recoveries, and 02 deaths in the last 24 hours
Active cases: 683
Total recoveries: 14,35,204
Death toll: 25,020

The United States on Tuesday said that it is ready to ship its COVID-19 vaccines expeditiously when it has the green light from the Indian government which has told the Americans that it needs further time to review legal provisions related to accepting vaccine donations. "We are ready to ship those vaccines expeditiously when we have a green light from the Government of India,” State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at his daily news conference.

The Biden Administration has announced to share 80 million doses from its domestic stockpile with countries around the world, including India. In recent week, the US vaccines have landed in countries across the world, including Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Voice of America on Tuesday announced that it is ending its radio service in Bangla that served Bangladesh, West Bengal, Assam and Tripura for 63 years. The FM and shortwave radio transmissions of Voice of America in Bangla would officially end on July 17, after 63 years, according to a media release.

The number of migrants and refugees who died while attempting to reach Europe on dangerous sea crossings more than doubled so far this year compared to the first six months of 2020, the United Nations' migration agency said in a new report. At least 1,146 people perished between January and June, according to the International Organization for Migration. The number of people travelling on sea routes to Europe also increased, but only by 56%, the IOM's report said.

Jammu & Kashmir: Security personnel deployed in Pulwama town where an encounter broke out earlier today