Author: Indmedia

Under the plans, Jenrick said they would invest in talking therapies, physiotherapy and employment support to move away from people claiming health Universal Credit (UC) payments and Personal Independent Payments (Pip). People with “lover-level conditions” would no longer receive payments, instead accounts run by local councils and mayors will provide for needs such as transport and equipment.Employers would see the creation of a return to work cover giving them a “strong economic incentive” to return an employee to work who has been off due to sickness.Those claiming benefits and who had not returned to work in two years would face…

According to transport department officials, the deadline for drivers to complete Marathi language training ended on Aug 15 Mumbai: With working knowledge of Marathi being made mandatory for auto taxi drivers from Aug 18, those caught by RTO flying squads will be served a show-cause notice, granting them one month to learn the language and explain why action should not be initiated against them.As per the amended Maharashtra Motor Vehicle Rules, the action against non-compliant drivers will follow a three-step process.Under the first stage, RTO flying squads will conduct random checks to assess drivers’ proficiency in functional Marathi. Drivers found…

New Delhi: The city has experienced a sharp spike in humidity and temperatures over the past two days as rain remains elusive, with the heat index or the ‘feels like’ temperature shooting up from 21 to 45 degrees Celsius.The heat index at 2.30pm Saturday stood at 45.1 degrees Celsius, while the actual temperature was 34.4 degrees; by 5.30pm, the heat index spiked to 46.1 degrees, while the actual temperature was 34.4 degrees.The maximum temperature was recorded at 34.8 degrees Celsius, a notch above normal compared to 30.8 degrees a day earlier. The minimum temperature was 26 degrees, a notch below…

Fire works in the sky in front of Vidhana Soudha on Saturday Bengaluru: For a day, the steady stream of vehicles that usually passes through Vidhana Soudha gave way to something far rarer — people. And thousands of them. Families, children, students, office-goers, senior citizens and visitors from different corners of the city took over the grand boulevard outside Karnataka’s seat of power, transforming it into a vibrant public square filled with laughter, music, colour and conversations.At Freedom Habba, Bengaluru did not merely celebrate Independence Day; it celebrated itself. From toddlers to curious children tugging their parents towards activity zones,…

Hyderabad: Just 269 students from Telangana have benefited from the Centre’s INSPIRE-SHE scholarship programme since its inception in 2008, with Rs 6.3 crore disbursed to them. According to the data tabled in Rajya Sabha in response to a query earlier this week, more than 1.3 lakh students nationwide have received Rs 2,784 crore under the scheme since its inception. Telangana’s numbers, however, have trailed far behind those of Karnataka (26,164), Rajasthan (23,467), Uttar Pradesh (60,263) and West Bengal (15,958).Run by the department of science and technology, Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research – Scholarship for Higher Education (INSPIRE-SHE) is…

Chennai: Madras high court has clarified that a mere pendency of a criminal case does not automatically require departmental disciplinary proceedings against a govt employee to be kept in abeyance till the disposal of the criminal case.“The purpose of departmental inquiry and of prosecution is two different and distinct aspects. The criminal prosecution is launched for an offence for violation of a duty the offended owes to the society, or for breach of which law has provided that the offender shall make satisfaction to the public,” a division bench of Justice S M Subramaniam and Justice N Senthilkumar said on…

Colva: The Rs 27.1 crore four-lane Seraulim-Colva road, one of the most expensive roads, once envisioned as a grand boulevard on the lines of New Delhi’s Rajpath, is riddled with potholes barely two years after hot-mixing.The 2km stretch was initially estimated at Rs 16 crore in 2016. In 2018, govt sanctioned an additional Rs 11.1 crore for road dividers, hot-mixing and street lighting, taking the total expenditure to Rs 27.1 crore.Motorists now face potholes at several points, some filled with cement aggregate, leaving uneven and hazardous surfaces, particularly for two-wheelers. The road was also dug up for an LPG pipeline,…

Skates grew up near Mold, Flintshire, and was the first member of his family to go to university.He said his childhood was shaped by the industrial decline that followed large-scale job losses at Shotton steelworks, where both of his parents worked, and that left him with a strong sense of injustice, helping draw him into politics.His mental health struggles “really manifested in an obvious way” at Cambridge and he struggled to get through university.”Where I went was unfamiliar to me, it was like nowhere I’d ever been before, and there were practices and behaviours that were completely alien to me,”…

You’ll notice two opposite currents in yourself today. One part wants to slow down, avoid effort, maybe even stay under the fan a little longer. The other part feels oddly brave and ready to decide something big. That’s the Moon stirring your mood while Mars pushes your will.Laziness and restlessness may appear as a pair, which is odd but also real. Do not let this make you feel confused. Making a bold choice today could force you to push yourself harder in the upcoming days, which isn’t an issue. Sometimes, life demands effort first. The reward comes later.This is one…

Flight delays, interminable waits on the tarmac—Booking.com CEO Glenn Fogel knows all about travel frustrations firsthand: “You can’t believe you even bothered.”Booking.com and sister brands like Priceline, Kayak and OpenTable are pouring hundreds of millions into AI tools to smooth out travel hiccups. In the AI-powered future Fogel envisions, the company will flag in advance whether it is going to rain the day of your boat tour or be sunny when you plan to go to the museum. It will ask if you would like to swap days, then handle the changes.“When we start doing that,” says Fogel, who also…