Breaking News, April 14 | LIVE UPDATES

India is expected to attract USD 100 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2022-23 on the back of economic reforms and ease of doing business in recent years, industry chamber PHDCCI said on Thursday. It also said the current financial year is expected to attain a GDP growth of more than 8 per cent. However, the inflation scenario has been stoked by rising international commodity prices, particularly of crude oil, it said.

At least 1,000 local BJP leaders in Himachal Pradesh will join the AAP soon and several big guns in the poll-bound state are also “in touch” with the Arvind Kejriwal-led party, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Thursday. Claiming that defections will leave the ruling party "scattered" in Himachal Pradesh, Sisodia asserted that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will form its government winning assembly elections to be held later this year in the hill state.

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday said normalcy has returned to Kashmir under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and asserted the recent attacks on minorities in Kashmir will be handled by security agencies. The Union minister said there were still some incidents of violence in Kashmir but such things are common to the entire country.

The Tamils ushered in the 'Puthandu Subhakritu' New Year with religious fervour and piety as several families visited the temples to commence the new year with divine blessings. The day also marked an important religious event in the temple town of Madurai where the celestial wedding of Goddess Meenakshi with Lord Sundareshwarar was performed in the presence of thousands of devotees.

The country's mineral production increased 4.5 per cent in February 2022 over the same month a year ago, the mines ministry said on Thursday. The index of mineral production of mining and quarrying sector for the month of February was at 123.2, registering a rise of 4.5 per cent as compared to the level recorded in the year-ago month, it said in a statement.

One person was killed and 10 others injured in a clash between two groups in Odisha's Nayagarh district, police said on Thursday. The incident happened on Wednesday night at Sindhuria village in Nayagarh Town police station area during 'Danda Jatra', a local festival, they said. The people of Durgaprasad and Deulapalli villages took out processions with their deities on the occasion, and soon an altercation started between the two groups near a Shiva temple, police said.

The road transport ministry has completed 1,41,190 kilometre of national highways as on March 31 this year out of the set target of 2 lakh km for 2024-25, the commerce and industry ministry said on Thursday. Similarly, the petroleum ministry has completed laying of a gas pipeline of 20,000 km out of 34,500 km targeted for the same period and the power ministry has also surpassed its target for laying the transmission network of 4,54,200 km till the end of March 2022. Ministry-wise progress of such projects was discussed during a review meeting on PM GatiShakti on April 13. It was chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. The PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (NMP) is an integrated plan depicting all the existing and proposed development initiatives of various ministries/departments for better synergy.
 

Delhi government's Specialised School of Excellence will now be known as BR Ambedkar School of Specialised Excellence, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday. Kejriwal said this at an event to launch one such school on the occasion of Ambedkar's birth anniversary. "Baba Saheb Amdebkar gave maximum emphasis on education and what could be a better way of paying homage to him than naming best of our schools after him," Kejriwal said.

In a major administrative reshuffle, the Rajasthan government has transferred 69 IAS officers, including the collector of Karauli district that witnessed violence earlier this month. The violence occurred on April 2 when some people allegedly threw stones at a bike rally on the occasion of Hindu New Year. Several vehicles and shops were set on fire. Over 35 people were injured. The Department of Personnel issued the transfer orders late on Wednesday night. According to it, commissioners of three divisions and collectors of five districts have been changed.

The CBI on Thursday interrogated the inspector-in-charge of Jhalda police station in connection with the murder of Congress councillor Tapan Kandu in West Bengal's Purulia district, an official said. Sanjib Ghosh, the police officer, reached the agency's camp office here in the morning for interrogation, he said. "Kandu's family has been alleging Ghosh's involvement in the murder. It is also alleged that he had put pressure on the Congress councillor to shift his political allegiance," the CBI official said. "We also need to find out the role of the IC on the day of the murder. How did he respond on receiving the news of the murder also needs to be examined," he said.

Sikkim Police arrested a man from neighbouring West Bengal in connection with the burglary case reported from a house in Nam Nang area here on April 11, an officer said on Thursday. A man had filed a case with Sadar Police station here stating that Rs 12 lakh in cash, 150 gm of gold, watches and mobile phones were stolen from his house. Superintendent of Police, Gangtok Tenzing Loden Lepcha told PTI that police arrested Bushan T Khatri from West Bengal border Rangpo in connection with the burglary and recovered Rs 3 lakh in cash and 50 gm of stolen gold from his possession.

The Congress on Thursday paid tributes to B R Ambedkar on his birth anniversary, with former party chief Rahul Gandhi saying he gave India its strongest pillar of strength – the Constitution. A key architect of India's Constitution, Ambedkar is regarded as an icon, especially by Dalits, for his relentless work for social reforms and empowerment of the disadvantaged sections of society. "On the occasion of his 131st birth anniversary, my tributes to Babasaheb Dr BR Ambedkar, who gave India its strongest pillar of strength - our sacred Constitution," Gandhi said in a tweet.

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Six persons died in a fire accident in a chemical factory located in Akkireddygudem in the district and 12 others sustained burns, police said on Thursday. According to Rahul Dev Sharma, Superintendent of Police, Eluru, the injured are being treated in a Government Hospital in Vijayawada. He said it is suspected the fire broke out late on Wednesday in the plant's reactor that makes polymer power.

The ruling TMC in West Bengal on Wednesday slammed the BJP over the formation of a committee to visit Hanskhali in Nadia district, where a minor girl died after allegedly being raped earlier in the month, and claimed that it was an attempt on the part of the saffron camp to influence the CBI probe. TMC state general secretary and spokesperson Kunal Ghosh sought to know if the party would have formed a similar panel if the case had happened in some BJP-ruled state.

Hundreds of small earthquakes have been reported near a volcano in southeast Alaska believed to have been dormant for at least 800 years. The cause of the quakes under Mount Edgecumbe, a volcano near Sitka that resembles Mount Fuji in Japan, are not known. However, they may not be an indication of volcanic activity, said Dave Schneider, a research geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the Alaska Volcano Observatory in Anchorage.

Three people were arrested in Meghalaya's East Jaintia Hills district on Wednesday and heroin worth Rs 2 crore was seized from their possession, police said. Acting on a tip-off, police intercepted a Silchar-bound car coming from Shillong and seized 412 gm of heroin from the vehicle, district Superintendent of Police Jagpal Singh Dhanoa said.

Five people, including three children, were killed and 13 others injured on Wednesday after an overloaded jeep they were travelling in fell into a gorge in Rajasthan's Udaipur district, police said. The accident took place near Nandeshwar Mahadev temple under the Nai police station limits. "Five people were killed and 13 others were injured in the accident," Udaipur Superintendent of Police Manoj Chaudhary said. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has expressed condolences over the incident.

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday claimed a "relief scam" after the Bombay High Court gave an order granting interim protection from arrest to Maharashtra BJP leader Kirit Somaiya in a cheating case related to alleged misappropriation of funds collected to save decommissioned warship INS Vikrant from scrapping. Raut questioned how only people from one party are beneficiaries of "relief" granted by the courts.