Browsing: India

Bathinda: Jailed Waris Punjab De co-founder Gurdeep Singh Bukkanwala has announced his candidature for the 2027 Punjab assembly elections from Moga.The announcement was made Thursday via a Facebook post on Bukkanwala’s page. Bukkanwala is a close associate of late Deep Sidhu and incarcerated Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh. Bukkanwala was arrested in March 2023 under the National Security Act (NSA) in connection with the Ajnala police station clash case. He spent two years in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail, was transferred to Punjab in March 2025 and has been held in Bathinda Central Jail for the last six months. According to the…

Lucknow: The ‘Bhujal Saptah-2026’ was launched in Lucknow on Thursday.The week-long programme will look at increasing public awareness about groundwater conservation and rainwater harvesting through events like painting, debate, public dialogue and public awareness campaigns in collaboration with schools, colleges, govt institutions and various social organisations.Jal Shakti Minister Swatantra Dev Singh appealed to people to save every single drop of rainwater, stop unnecessary groundwater extraction, motivate five people each for water harvesting, plant one tree and save one ‘lota’ of water every day.“It is necessary to turn water conservation into a mass movement through public participation. The theme for this…

Patna: Sate govt on Thursday transferred and reassigned several senior IAS officials, handing them new responsibilities across crucial departments. The general administration department issued the notification for the reshuffle late in the evening. The changes impact major portfolios, including rural works, information technology, food and consumer protection, sports, higher education and agriculture.According to the notification, 2004-batch IAS officer Abhay Kumar Singh has been shifted from the information technology department and appointed secretary in the rural works department. Until further orders, he will also continue to hold additional charge of the IT department, ensuring continuity in the state’s digital initiatives.Divesh Sehra,…

Jaipur: The Rajasthan High Court Thursday directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to finalise the schedule for panchayat and urban local bodies elections by July 20, expressing strong displeasure over the continued delay despite earlier court orders.A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma and Justice Sanjeet Purohit, hearing a contempt petition filed by former MLA Sanyam Lodha, ordered the SEC to place the election schedule before the court within five days, on the next date of hearing on July 20.It also instructed the OBC Commission to clarify by the same date when its report would be submitted,…

Affirms trial court’s judgment under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act Nagpur: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday upheld the life imprisonment of a Chandrapur man convicted of sexually assaulting his minor daughter, saying a father accused of raping his own child represents one of the most “shocking and heinous crimes in which he degraded the soul of the helpless girl”. The rape survivor was 12 years old at the time of the assault and was 27 weeks pregnant, when the case was registered at the local police station. After she gave birth, a DNA test on the newborn…

Rajkot: A 30-year-old man was hacked to death and his nephew injured after four armed men allegedly rammed their motorcycle with a car and attacked them in broad daylight in Amreli district’s Ingorala village on Wednesday.Police said the murder was driven by a grudge over the victim’s love marriage.According to an FIR lodged with Khambha police by eyewitness Gautam Vala, the victim, Jayraj Dhakhda, was riding a motorcycle with his nephew, Shaktiraj, when a car rammed into them from behind, causing both to fall on the road. Four men got out of the car armed with a sword, iron pipes…

BJP LoP Babulal Marandi addresses a news conference in Ranchi on Thursday Ranchi: Despite having 40% of the country’s mineral reserves, Jharkhand has fallen behind in mining revenue, production and employment generation due to policy failures, administrative inefficiency and lack of transparency, leader of opposition Babulal Marandi claimed on Thursday.Addressing media after his visit to the Saranda in West Singhbhum district, Marandi claimed several mines remained closed for several years as the state govt failed to renew their leases or put them up for auction on time. “The shutdown had adversely impacted jobs, triggered migration and weakened the local economy,”…

Prayers being offered to organ donor Virsing Maida Surat: Even as Rath Yatra celebrations were underway, a grieving family in Surat gave the gift of life to three patients through organ donation.The liver and two kidneys of 43-year-old Virsing Maida were harvested at New Civil Hospital (NCH) on Thursday after doctors declared him brain-dead.A native of Kotda in Rajasthan who was living in Kamrej, Surat, Maida suffered a severe electric shock on July 12 after accidentally falling onto an electrical power distribution panel while working as a mason. He was carrying out work above the panel when he lost his…

Video grab of the incident in which the man (in black shirt) is seen falling between the bogie and platform at Vadodara railway station Vadodara: A 46-year-old Mumbai resident lost a leg after he slipped while trying to board a moving train at Vadodara railway station on Wednesday night.The injured passenger, Suresh Tungariya, was travelling with his wife and two daughters on Train No 09723 Jaipur-Bandra Terminus Special Express. According to the Railway Protection Force (RPF), the train just departed from platform 1 at around 10.14 pm when fellow passengers pulled the alarm chain after noticing Tungariya trapped between the…

Varanasi: At a time when the alleged theft of donations at the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya has sparked widespread debate over transparency in handling devotees’ offerings, an 80-year-old woman from Tamil Nadu has donated more than Rs 3 crore to the Kashi Vishwanath Temple through cheques, ensuring every contribution was officially acknowledged with receipts.The donation, made in memory of her late husband and two sons, is one of the largest recent contributions to a major temple in Uttar Pradesh.According to officials, the octogenarian first approached Varanasi divisional commissioner S Rajalingam to express her desire to make the donation. Although…