Fifty-seven new coronavirus cases were reported in Rajasthan on Saturday morning, taking the total number of cases in the state to 3,636 officials said. Maximum of the new cases -- 20 -- were reported from Udaipur and 15 in Jaipur, a government official said. Eleven cases were from Ajmer, three from Pali, two each from Rajsamand and Churu, and one each in Kota, Barmer, Jalore and Dausa, the official said. Rajasthan has reported 103 deaths due to COVID-19 so far and the maximum cases (1,160) and deaths (54) are from Jaipur.

A student of the Regional Dental College in Guwahati tested positive for COVID-19, taking the total number of positive cases in Assam to 59, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday. The student's test report came in on Friday night, following which the number of cases detected in Guwahati since Thursday rose to five. Only one person, a resident of a high- end apartment, was found to be COVID-19 positive in the city prior to that. "These are difficult times. My duty is to give finest attention to all. Following social distancing guidelines of the government, met the girl who tested positive at Regional Dental College and assured her best care," Sarma said. He urged other students of the college not to panic and ensure social distance. The girl was tested after she came in contact with a post-graduate student of the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) who had tested positive on Thursday, an official said. A 16-year old girl was found COVID-19 positive .

17-year-old Pratyusha Jha, wakes up scrambling for newspapers these days to look for any news about her pending board exams and is anxious about what the future has in store for her. Similar concerns are shared by Bipin Kumar, a class 12 student, who says the announcement of board exams from July 1 to 15 brought limited clarity as the larger questions remain unanswered. The COVID-19 lockdown, came with a different set of concerns for class 12 students, whose board exams were postponed midway following the outbreak of coronavirus, putting on hold their future plans as well. "Everyday I have been looking for news about the exams and about entrance exam dates. I feel unfortunate that this happened during the year I was supposed to take the big college leap. I don't want my future decisions to be shaped by this very year as what I opt to study now will remain with me lifelong," Pratyusha told PTI. Ending some uncertainty for students, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' on Friday ...

Mild tension prevailed at the LG Polymers at RR Venkatapuram village near here as villagers staged a protest on Saturday demanding immediate closure of the plant. A styrene vapour leak from the plastics manufacturing plant caused the death of 12 people on Thursday. Tens of villagers, who were provided shelter in Visakhapatnam after the vapour leak, returned to the village on Saturday morning, raising slogans against the factory management and demanding its closure. A large police force was present near the factory as DGP DG Sawang was scheduled to visuit it. The police tried to prevent the villagers from going near the plant but the latter ran past the former and staged a it- in protest near the factory gate. Police immediately took the protesters into custody and whisked them away.

High tension prevailed at the LG Polymers at RR Venkatapuram village near here as irate villagers staged a protest on Saturday demanding immediate closure of the plant. The protesters placed two bodies of the dead in front of the factory main gate as part of the agitation while some youths barged into the plant even as state Director General of Police D G Sawang was inspecting the vapour leak spot and talking to the management on the measures taken to restore normalcy. The bodies were brought to the village for cremation on Saturday from the KGH mortuary after post-mortem. The angry villagers, however, stopped the ambulances in front of the plant gate and laid the bodies on the road. Emotions ran high as the villagers demanded that the plant be shut down immediately as it completely ruined our lives. A styrene vapour leak from the plastics manufacturing plant caused the death of 12 persons on Thursday. Hundreds of villagers, who were provided shelter in Visakhapatnam ...

Demanding a return passage to their home states, hundreds of agitated migrant workers clashed with the police at Mora village in Gujarat's Surat district on Saturday, an official said. Over 40 workers were detained, after hundreds of them clashed with the police and pelted stones at police vehicles in Mora village near the industrial town of Hazira, the official said. Protesting workers demanded that the district administration arrange for their travel back to their hometowns in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, among others, he said. Most of these labourers worked in industrial units at Hazira and lived in Mora village, the official said, adding that the police had cordoned off the area and tightened security there.

Just a day before he was killed in the train accident in Aurangabad, 28-year-old Brajesh Singh had informed his father that he would be reaching their village by a special train soon. For Gajraj Singh, a resident of Antoli village in Madhya Pradesh's Shahdol district, that phone call was the last conversation he had with his sons Brajesh and Shivdayal (25). Bodies of the two brothers, along with those of 14 other labourers, would be reaching their village on Saturday. At least 16 labourers, who were travelling to their home state Madhya Pradesh on foot, were mowed down by a goods train while they were sleeping on tracks near Karmad station in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district early morning on Friday. "Only a day before the mishap, my sons informed me that they had left on foot to board a train from Maharashtra and will reach Shahdol soon. They told me that they would sit in the train on Friday. But instead of my sons, the news of their death has reached me," said an ...

Thirty Six new COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in Karnataka, taking the total number of infections in the state to 789, health department said on Saturday. "36 new positive cases have been reported from last evening to this noon....Till date 789 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed. This includes 30 deaths and 379 discharges," the department said in its mid day situation report. The 36 new cases include- 12 from Bengaluru urban, seven from Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada, five from Davangere, three each from- Bantawal in Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga and Bidar, and one each from Tumakuru, Davangere and Vijayapura. While most cases are contacts of patients already tested positive, three are with travel history to Ahmedabad, two are from a containment zone in Bengaluru, and one person's contact is under tracing.

A day after the Andhra Pradesh government constituted a five-member team to probe the Visakhapatnam gas leak incident, TDP chief N Chandrababu Nadu on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to set up a scientific experts' committee to investigate the matter. In a letter to Modi, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief also commended the "quick response" of the central government in controlling the styrene vapour leak from the plastics manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam that left 12 people dead and hundreds hospitalised on Thursday. Naidu suggested that the prime minister set up a scientific experts' committee to inquire into the gas leakage and the circumstances that led to the release of toxic vapours. A thorough investigation needs to be done to understand the health impact as the company claims that only styrene gas was leaked but there are conflicting reports of other toxic gases being leaked, he said. "The long-lasting impact on the health of those undergoing ..

Opposition Congress in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday alleged that the 16 migrant workers, who were crushed to death by a train in Maharashtra on Friday, had applied to the Shivraj Singh Chouhan govenment for passes to travel back home about a fortnight ago, but the administration failed to act on it. Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh tweeted a video in which a survivor of the train tragedy claimed that they had applied for their return to their respective districts in Madhya Pradesh. Alleging that the MP government's "negligence and inaction" led to the death of the workers, Singh also called for a probe to know what arrangements the BJP-led government had done to bring back these workers after they applied for return. "The workers killed in the train accident had asked for passes from the Shivraj government about fifteen days back. These 16 lives could have been saved, if passes were issued. Shivraj ji, these deaths are the result of jungle raj," Madhya Pradesh ...

The northeastern region, which has traditionally been disciplined, has emerged as the model of coronavirus management and the rest of the country should emulate it, Union minister Jitendra Singh said on Saturday. He said people in the eight northeastern states - Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Assam - have been following the lockdown-related guidelines in letter and spirit. "By tradition and by lifestyle, people of northeastern region are civilised and disciplined. That is why they could very easily follow the lockdown guidelines. There has been no problem in ensuring implementation of the lockdown-related guidelines there," Singh told PTI. He said within six years of the Modi government, the northeastern region has emerged as the model for development for the entire country. "Similarly, during the lockdown due to COVID-19, entire northeast has become model for the whole country to emulate it," he said, adding that the way people are ...

The Andhra Pradesh government on Saturday said the situation was "normal" in RR Venkatapuram village, where a styrene vapour leak from the LG Polymers plant claimed 12 lives and left over 300 people hospitalized with various ailments. Director General of Police D Gautam Sawang and Special Chief Secretary (Industries) Karikal Valaven inspected the plant and spoke to the LG management and later told reporters that "everything is normal and there is no need to panic." Temperature at the styrene storage tank, where the vapour leak occurred, has come down, as also the PPM (ambient air quality) level. "Definitely the air is also fresh and there is nothing to worry about. In the coming days, life will come back to normalcy," the DGP said. "Just to be on the safe side, as per protocol, people are being asked to stay away for 48 hours. That period will end tomorrow. Scientists and experts from different parts of the country, including New Delhi, are coming here. They will review .

The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday said it has issued a Rs 16.38 crore attachment order against the Congress promoted Associated Journals Limited (AJL) and its leader Moti Lal Vora in connection with a money laundering probe. It said the attached property is a 9-storey building in Mumbai having two basements and total built up area of 15,000 square metres. The asset "germinated out of proceeds of crime has been attached to the extent of Rs 16.38 crore," the federal agency said in a statement. The provisional attachment order, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), has been issued against the Associated Journals Limited and Moti Lal Vora, the chairman-cum-managing director of the AJL.

The Central Industrial Security Force reported 13 fresh cases of COVID-19 among its personnel on Saturday with the maximum being in its Delhi Metro protection unit, officials said. The 1.62 lakh personnel strong force has a total of 48 active cases of coronavirus with the addition of the new numbers. Two of its personnel have succumbed to the disease over the last two days. Among the 48 active cases, maximum 31 are in the unit that guards the Delhi Metro followed by 13 in the Mumbai international airport guarding unit. The maximum rise in cases, at 10, over the last 24 hours has also been reported from the Delhi Metro guarding unit. Coronavirus positive troops have also been reported at CISF units like Delhi airport (3), Ahmedabad airport (2), Kolkata Port Trust (3) and one at its VIP security unit based at GreaterNoida. The force is tasked to guard civil airports (63 at present) in the country and vital infrastructure in the aerospace and nuclear domain. The paramilitary forces or ...

Hundreds of migrant workers came onto the streets and clashed with the police at a village in Surat district of Gujarat on Saturday to demand that they either be sent back to their home states or allowed to resume work at local industrial units to earn money, police said. The police resorted to lathicharge and fired tear gas to disperse the mob. Over a 100 workers were detained in this connection, an official said. The incident took place at Mora village near industrial town of Hazira. "Over 100 workers were detained after they took to the streets, demanding that they either be sent back home or allowed to work at the industrial units they were employed at in Hazira and paid salaries," joint commissioner of police (Sector 2) D N Patel said. Protesting workers came out of their homes in the workers' colony at Mora village and started walking in a large group towards Hazira industrial area, he said. The migrants demanded that the district administration should arrange for ..

Meritorious students hailing from poor sections of the society in Odisha have been provided smartphones to help them attend online classes during coronavirus-induced lockdown to sustain their focus on the NEET exam scheduled on July 26 for admission in medical colleges. These wards of humble vegetable sellers, fishermen and marginal farmers are students of "Zindagi foundation" run by a non-governmental organisation for talented students of Odisha, to help them give wings to their dreams. The man behind the initiative is academician Ajay Bahadur Singh, who was forced to quit medical studies due to his father's kidney ailment in 1990 and had to sell tea and sherbet to help his family survive. There are 19 medical aspirants, both boys and girls, at present under the project from remote corners of Odisha who will be undertaking the national level undergraduate medical entrance exam on July 26 next to qualify for admission in medical colleges. The lockdown caused by the ...

The Telangana Police will soon rollout an Artificial Intelligence (AI)- based system through CCTVs to check face mask norm violations. Describing it as a first such initiative in the country,State DGP M Mahendar Reddy has tweeted that the system shall be enabled shortly across the three police commissionerates of Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda which cover Hyderabad and its suburbs. He said the initiative involved leveraging computer vision and deep learning techniques on closed cirucuit television (cctvs) "#AI based #FaceMaskViolationEnforcement is being rolled out by TS police. Leveraging ComputerVision & #DeepLearningTechnique being implemented on surveillance CCTVs across the cities is #FirstOfItsKind in INDIA. Shall be enabled shortly across the 3Commissionerates *Hyd,Cyb&Rck," he said. The state government, which has made wearing a mask mandatory in public places, on Thursday issued orders imposing Rs 1000 as fine for those not complying with it. "In ...

Gas leak was detected on a goods train transporting LPG on Saturday at Bhopal railway station in Madhya Pradesh, a Railways official said. He said the leakage was minor and controlled immediately. The train was headed towards Bakania, where bottling plant of an oil company is located, about 20 kms away from the railway station near Bairagarh. "The leakage was reported in the LPG container of a goods train at around 11.30 am at the Bhopal railway station. The goods train of Konkan Railway was going to Bakania near Bhopal. The leakage was immediately controlled," said a PRO of the Railways.

Seventy-six fresh coronavirus cases surfaced in Rajasthan on Saturday, pushing the state's infection count to 3,655. The state has so far reported 103 deaths. Among the fresh cases, the maximum 23 were reported from Udaipur, followed by Jaipur where 20 people were found infected with the virus on Saturday. Thirteen cases surfaced in Ajmer; six in Jodhpur; four in Pali; three in Jalore; two each in Rajsamand and Churu; and one each in Kota, Barmer and Dausa, according to a government official. Jaipur is the worst-hit Rajasthan district with a total of 1,165 case, including 54 deaths.

Over one lakh cases of lockdown violations were registered and 19,297 persons were arrested ever since prohibitory orders were enforced in Maharashtra in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, police said on Saturday. At least 1.02 lakh cases were registered under section 188 (disobeying an order passed by a public servant) of the Indian Penal Code, an official said. As many as 714 personnel, including 81 officers, of Maharashtra police contracted COVID-19, and of these 61 had recovered from the infection, he said. Maximum number of coronavirus cases reported in the police department were from Mumbai, he added. At least 194 cases of attacks on policemen were reported in various parts of the state, while 680 persons were arrested in these incidents and 73 policemen and a home guard were injured in these attacks, the official said. Nearly 32 cases of attacks on health workers were reported in the state till Saturday, he added. Meanwhile, the police have registered 1,289 offences of

A sugarcane farmer was killed and his brother sustained injuries in a clash between two groups of farmers over a land dispute at Jalalpur village in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli district, police said. Police said trouble started when Nareshpal and his brother Harender were confronted by Pardeep with a group of farmers who attacked him with sticks while working in his field. The injured Nareshpal was rushed to hospital where he was declared dead. Nareshpal and Pardeep's agricultural land lie adjacent to each other and a dispute arose over it, police pointed out. A case was registered on Friday under IPC Sections 147 (punishment for rioting) 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) while a search is on to catch hold of the accused, police added. According to the complaint lodged by .

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought life to a screeching halt for many, but those with serious ailments such as blood disorders have been pushed to the edge with their lives now hanging by a thread in the absence of necessary medical interventions. Sonia Ghakkar, a Gurgaon resident, had been desperately looking for help, as her husband, a leukemia patient, waits for bone marrow transplant (BMT). "About two months ago, my husband was diagnosed with leukemia. Bone marrow transplant is his only chance of survival. We have sought permission from the health ministry for transport of blood stem cells, but to no avail. The match cannot reach the hospital under the present circumstances," she said. Stem cell transplant is the only cure for many patients suffering from blood disorders. According to a hematologist, it takes months, sometimes years, to find a donor, and many "high-risk" patients have limited time left. Transplants have come down to a meager 20 per cent nationwide, as most ...

Private cell phone operators resumed their services but mobile Internet continued to remain suspended on Saturday in the Kashmir valley, a move taken as a precautionary step after the killing of self-styled local chief of banned Hizbul Mujahdieen, Reyaz Naikoo, earlier this week. The situation in the valley, which has been witnessing lockdown since the third week of March due to COVID-19 pandemic, was generally calm barring a few local protests in some villages of Pulwama in south Kashmir. Seeing an improvement of the situation after Naikoo was killed in an encounter with security forces on Wednesday, the authorities allowed private telecom operators to resume their services from Friday night but asked them to keep Internet connection barred. Restrictions had been imposed in the valley after the death of Naikoo and additional paramilitary forces were deployed at vulnerable points to prevent any mischief or stone pelting. SMS services have been snapped across all telecom operators till

Filmmaker Satyanshu Singh has launched a unique initiative to raise relief money for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The director has started online classes for budding cinema students and has roped artistes from different fields of filmmaking for the initiative. Actor Vinay Pathak, screenwriters Anjum Rajabali and Sudip Sharma, cinematographer Siddharth Diwan and director Shoojit Sircar have come aboard the initiative. Since April 1, more than a dozen lectures have been conducted with students from cities like Bokaro, Kota, Bhilai, Almora, and Coimbatore taking part in them. Overseas students have also showed interest in the lectures. Through the initiative, Satyanshu has so far raised Rs 15 lakhs which has been donated to non-for-profit organisations like Milaap, Goonj, Sarvahitey, and Sneha, providing food and support to out-of-work labourers, women and children in slums, and the homeless. The daily wage workers from the film industry are also benefitting from this ...

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said he is "totally healthy" and not suffering from any disease. In a statement, Shah said rumours about his health conditions have been spread through social media. "I am totally healthy and I am not suffering from any disease," he said in the statement in Hindi which was posted on his Twitter handle.

The Goa government may allow holding of music classes and reopening of some state-run libraries in a phased manner on the condition of maintaining strict social distancing norms, Art and Culture Minister Govind Gawade said on Saturday. However, resumption of dramas and other entertainment events will be allowed only after monsoon gets over. The state-run Kala Academy will also reopen once rainy season gets over, he told PTI. Goa is classified as a green zone with no coronavirus positive case as of now. Meanwhile, Gawade said the overall budget of the state Art and Culture department is likely to be slashed by almost 30 per cent as part of fiscal measures being adopted for kick-starting the economy, which is affected by the COVID situation. He also said that demand made by various artists seeking monthly renumeration cannot be approved. Some professional artists and theatre personalities had raised a demand for a package with chief minister Pramod Sawant and Gawade, saying

Confusion prevailed over the number of deaths due to coronavirus in the national capital, with data from four hospitals showing that 92 people succumbed to the infection as against 68 fatalities reported by the Delhi government. The toll of 68 shared by the Delhi government in its health bulletin on Friday is based on data collected from 10 hospitals, including AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital and Lady Hardinge Medical College. According to the bulletin, AIIMS (Delhi and Jhajjar) reported two deaths, Safdarjung Hospital reported four, RML 26 and Lady Hardinge Medical College had none till Friday. However, officials from these hospitals said the number of people who died due to coronavirus in the national capital till Friday is higher than that reflected in the Delhi government's bulletin. AIIMS (Delhi Trauma Centre and Jhajjar) has recorded a total of 14 deaths, an official said. According to All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Medical ...

The Andhra Pradesh government on Saturday said the situation was "normal" in RR Venkatapuram village, where a styrene vapour leak from the LG Polymers plant claimed 12 lives and left over 300 people hospitalized with various ailments. Director General of Police D Gautam Sawang and Special Chief Secretary (Industries) Karikal Valaven inspected the plant and spoke to the LG Polymers plant management. Later they told reporters "everything is normal and there is no need to panic." Even as Sawang was inspecting the vapour leak spot and talking to the management on the measures taken to restore normalcy, irate villagers staged a protest demanding immediate closure of the plant. According to the DGP, temperature at the styrene storage tank, where the vapour leak occurred, has come down, as also the PPM (ambient air quality) level. "Definitely the air is also fresh and there is nothing to worry about. In the coming days, life will come back to normalcy," the DGP said. "Just to ..

: The number of active COVID-19 cases slid below the 1,000 mark to 999 in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday though the overall tally rose to 1,930 with the addition of 43 in the last 24 hours ending 9 am. The COVID-19 toll in the state also increased by three to 44 while 45 more patients were discharged from hospitals, according to the latest bulletin. Chittoor district saw a sudden spurt in cases, with 11 reported in the last 24 hours ending 9 am on Saturday, as some people who returned from Koyambedu wholesale market in Chennai city tested posted for coronavirus. It is suspected that these people contracted the disease at Koyambedu and several others who also returned from the place were sent to quarantine, sources here said. Visakhapatnam too continued to show an upward trend as five fresh cases were registered, taking the total in the district to 62. The major hotspots Kurnool, Krishna and Guntur reported six, 16 and two fresh cases. In the last 24 hours, Krishna reported two

A 51-year-old police constable who had tested positive for coronavirus died in Maharashtra's Nashik district on Saturday afternoon, an official said. This is the sixth death of a police personnel due to COVID-19 in the state, he said. The constable, a resident of Nashik city, was deputed on security duty in Malegaon town in the district which has emerged as a coronavirus hotspot. He was admitted to the civil hospital in Nashik after showing symptoms of infection on May 1, the police official said. Three policemen in Mumbai and one each in Pune and Solapur had died due to the virus infection before.

Despite having a valid official pass to move between Jammu and Kashmir, hundreds of travellers have ended up at administrative quarantine centres set up by the government on the outskirts of the winter capital as part of its efforts to combat the coronavirus. The move is agitating the people who questioned the logic behind sending them to an institutional quarantine when they are given the passes in extremely exceptional situations, like a medical emergency or joining their duties after completing the formalities due to a lockdown. One such quarantine centre is set up at Excise and Taxation Training institute in Nagrota, 15 km from Jammu city, where 35 persons, including women and a seven-year-old girl, are anxiously waiting for their sample reports the outcome of which will decide their future at the sprawling facility. While a majority of them are expected to be released after their test reports are negative, four labourers from Amritsar in Punjab who had travelled from Srinagar to

Bihar Information and Public Relations Minister Niraj Kumar on Saturday hit back at the Congress for demanding his resignation due to the expiry of his MLC tenure, asserting he is holding his ministerial post as per constitutional provisions. Congress national spokesperson and Bihar MLC Prem Chandra Mishra Mishra had on Friday termed as "unethical and against constitutional norms" the continuance of Bihar ministers Niraj Kumar and Ashok Choudhary in their posts despite the expiry of their tenures in the legislative council earlier this week. Both the JD(U) leaders were sworn-in as ministers a year ago, during a Cabinet expansion by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar shortly after the NDA's stupendous victory in the Lok Sabha elections. They are among 17 members of the 75-strong legislative council whose tenure ended on Wednesday. The Election Commission is yet to announce a poll schedule for the Upper House. Building Construction Minister Ashok Choudhary and IPRD Minister ...

The number of active cases of coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh went up to 1,800 on Saturday, while nearly 1,400 people have been discharged so far, a senior official said. Principal Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad said the national recovery percentage was 30 per cent but the figure was 43 per cent in Uttar Pradesh. "It is a matter of satisfaction that people are recovering and returning home," he said. The number of active infection cases is 1,800 as against 1,761 on Friday, while the number of people who have fully recovered has risen from 1,387 to 1,399, the official said. Prasad stressed that community surveillance will play an important role in coming days with the return of tens of thousands of migrants. There was a need for the 'gram nigrani samitis' in rural areas and 'mohalla nigrani samitis' in urban areas to work strictly, he said. "All those returning (to the state) are being kept in 21 days' home quarantine and those returning from abroad are also being put in quarantine.

After being on the run for nearly a year, the National Investigation Agency on Saturday nabbed Ranjit Singh, a notorious narco-terrorist, from Sirsa as he was acting as a conduit of Pakistan-based terror groups in pushing drugs into India, the proceeds of which were used for terror activities. The National Investigation Agency (NIA), along with the Punjab and Haryana police arrested Singh alias Cheeta, a resident of Amritsar, in an intelligence-based operation from Sirsa in Haryana, the agency said in a statement. The NIA had registered a case in June last year and filed the first charge sheet against 15 people, including Singh, and four companies, in December the same year. The NIA spokesman, said in the statement, that an investigation into a drug case had led to the fact that Pakistan-based terrorist organisations were using narcotic trade to generate funds for terror activities in India. The proceeds of narcotic trade are transferred to Kashmir valley through couriers and hawala ..

Five special trains will start journey from three states on Saturday to bring back 5,000 stranded Odia people, a day after the Supreme Court allowed the return of migrants to Odisha, officials said here. The Supreme Court on Friday stayed an interim order of the Orissa High Court which had asked the state government to ensure that only those tested negative for COVID-19 were allowed to return to Odisha. Three trains will come from Gujarat and one each from Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, the officials said, adding that about 5,000 people will return to Odisha by these five trains. A senior East Coast Railways official said one of the five trains has already left from Surat for Odisha's Ganjam district. Two trains will leave from Ahmedabad in Gujarat for Khurda Road in Odisha, one train from Panvel station in Mumbai will start the journey to Odisha's Titlagarh in Bolangir district and another will leave from Chennai for Jagannathpur in Ganjam district, the official said. Meanwhile, Odisha .

The evaluation for class 10, 12 board exams will be done by teachers at their homes and 3,000 schools have been identified as exam centres to deliver the answer sheets to them, Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' said on Saturday. He said 1.5 crore answer sheets of already conducted class 10, 12 exams will be delivered to teachers. "From the 3,000 schools, these copies will go the evaluators and evaluation will begin tomorrow. Teachers will evaluate from home and we will be able to complete the process in 50 days," he added. The evaluation of the answer sheets has been delayed due to a nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the coronavirus outbreak. The pending board exams will be held from July 1 to 15.

The Prem Singh Tamang government in Sikkim has decided to reduce the salaries of the chief minister and ministers by 35 per cent for the next one year to mitigate the adverse impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the state's economy. As per decisions taken at a cabinet meeting presided over by the chief minister on Friday, utilisation of discretionary funds of the ministers have also been put on hold. The state government has decided to impose a ban on appointments under regular/work-charged/muster roll/adhoc/consolidated pay/ temporary basis for six months, a press release issued by the Information and Public Relations department said. The state government has also decided to impose a ban on replacement and purchase of new vehicles, computers and peripherals while the allocation under revenue expenditure in all departments will be curtailed by ten per cent. Among other things, there will be restrictions on advertisement or publication of notice inviting tender except ..

A 25-year-old man was thrashed and left unconscious with serious injuries on suspicious of being a coronavirus carrier' in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh. The incident took place on Friday evening outside a chemist shop in the Shivpuri locality of Aligarh. Police have booked six people in this regard. Abdul Samad fell unconscious after the accused attacked him, alleging that he was a coronavirus carrier', police said on Saturday. He was rushed to Malkhan Singh District Hospital by members of his family who arrived at the spot after people raised an alarm. According to the victim's father Laiqur Rehman, Samad was feeling dizzy after his Ramzan fast on Friday night. He had gone to a chemist shop in the neighbourhood to purchase some medicine where he was accosted by some people, who abused and beat him up without any provocation. Had not the family rushed him to the hospital, the injuries could have been fatal, the father claimed. Samad is now out of danger and has been referred to Jawaharlal .

A 21-year-old married woman allegedly committed suicide by hanging at her house in a village in Bundi district on Saturday, police said. The deceased woman was identified as Uma Jangid (21), wife of Dinesh Jangid and a resident of Nayagaon village of Kapren town in Bundi district, SHO of Kapren police station Budhiprakesh Nama said. The woman allegedly committed suicide by hanging from the ceiling fan of her room on Saturday early morning while other members of the family were asleep, the SHO said. Prima facie, it appears that the woman took the extreme step due to family reasons, he opined. However, no suicide note was recovered from her possession. Uma got married to Dinesh in 2017. Her parents who had reached here after the death said their daughter did not have any complaints about her in-laws, the policeman said, adding that the couple did not have any child. The body was handed over to her family members after a post-mortem was conducted later in the day, Nama said. A case was ..

With 224 new instances of the novel coronavirus infection, the total number of cases reported in the national capital climbed to 6,542, the Delhi government said on Saturday. The fresh cases were reported between 4 pm to midnight of May 8. No fresh death due to the virus was reported in this period. Delhi has so far reported 68 deaths. Of the total cases reported in the city, 4,454 are active while 2,020 patients have been cured of the disease, the health bulletin stated.

The ruling JD(U) on Saturday slammed AAP for claiming that it bore the cost of ferrying migrant workers from Delhi to their home in Bihar, saying the party was speaking "half-truth" as the Arvind Kejriwal government has sought reimbursement of the payment. The Janata Dal (United) headed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar accused the Aam Admi Party (AAP) of resorting to "cheap politics to gain popularity". The JD(U) also came down heavily on Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav for lapping up the issue to attack the NDA dispensation, asking him to stop the rhetoric and do something good for the people of Bihar. The AAP had on Friday claimed that the Kejriwal government paid for the migrant labourers travelling home after the Bihar government left them in the lurch. The train carrying 1,200 migrant labourers left for Muzaffarpur, Bihar today. The Arvind Kejriwal government will bear their full travel cost, Delhi minister Gopal Rai had tweeted on Friday. In a ...

ICICI Bank on Saturday reported a 6.91 per cent growth in March quarter net at Rs 1,251 crore on a consolidated basis, after setting aside over Rs 2,000 crore in provisions for potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. On a standalone basis, the second largest private sector bank's profit grew 26 per cent to Rs 1,221 crore as against Rs 969 crore in the year-ago period. For fiscal year 2019-20, it reported a 135 per cent jump in standalone profit to Rs 7,930.81 crore. From an asset quality perspective, the bank reported an improvement in gross non-performing assets (NPAs) ratio to 5.53 per cent as against 6.70 per cent in the year-ago period and 5.95 per cent as of December 2019, despite over Rs 5,300 crore in fresh slippages during the reporting quarter. ICICI Bank President Sandeep Batra said it had slippages of Rs 4,300 crore in the preceding December quarter, and the additions on this front can be attributed to two accounts -- a West Asian healthcare company and a Singaporean oil

A number of entrepreneurs based in rural areas of the country have taken to manufacturing face masks amid dwindling demand for their regular produce in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, an official said on Saturday. Around, 500 rural entrepreneurs have so far produced and sold 3.5 lakh such masks under the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP), he said. They produce around 2,500 masks per day for health professionals, policemen, media personnel and cleaning staff, the official said. In West Bengal, 38 entrepreneurs manufacture nearly 600 masks a day in blocks of Dinhata, Pathar Pratima and Manikchak in different districts of the state. The entrepreneurs, trained under SVEP -- under the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) -- have sold 49,000 masks in the state till date, he said. Apart from West Bengal, the programme is active in the rural belts of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Haryana, he added. The masks are made in hygienic ..

Two fresh cases of COVID-19 were reported from Kerala on Saturday, both being foreign returnees who reached the state from Dubai and Abu Dhabi on May 7 and were among the expatriates airlifted by the Centre as part of its mission to bring back stranded Indians abroad. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said with the two new patients, the total number of cases in the state has gone up to 505 and there are currently 17 under treatment. "One patient from Idukki, who was under treatment, has been cured today.The two new cases are now under treatment in Kochi and Kozhikode. They reached the state on May 7 in the Abu Dhabi- Kochi andDubai-Kozhikode flights, respectively," Vijayan told reporters. "There are 23,930 people under observation in the state out of which 334 are in isolation wards of various hospitals," he said. Out of the total 505 infected, Kerala has till now cured 485,Vijayan added. The state has reported three deaths.

Easing curbs further in non-containment zones with riders like social distancing, the Tamil Nadu government on Saturday allowed private sector firms to resume work with 33 per cent work force and also permitted reopening of tea stalls to offer take away services from May 11. The government also extended the timings for groceries and vegetable shops from the present 5 pm till 7 pm, effective Monday, throughout Tamil Nadu. These outlets can start work from 6 am as usual. As regards standalone and neighbourhood shops in Chennai, they can function from 10.30 am till 6 pm as against the present cut off time of 5 pm, an official release here said. In all other parts of the state, these categories of shops can be open between 10 am and 7 pm. In Chennai city and suburbs, all private sector companies can resume work and operate between 10.30 am and 6 pm. In the rest of Tamil Nadu, the firms can work from 10 am to 7 pm. However, the workforce shall be confined to 33 per cent of the ..

Four policemen, including an assistant sub inspector, were injured when a group of men attacked them in Pratapgarh district of Rajasthan on Friday night. The incident occurred in Chhoti Sadri area near the house of the state Cooperative Minister Udai Lal Anjana with the BJP alleging that Anjana too slapped a policeman, a charge denied by the minister. A former up-sarpanch Kanhaiya Lal had a spat with some youths in Kesunda village over some petty issue. After some time, the youths caught Kanhaiya Lal and thrashed him, police said. On information, a team of four policemen, led by ASI Shishupal Singh, rushed to the spot where the members from Kanhaiya Lal hit them. The policemen got injured. The ASI has received critical injuries, Chhoti Sadri police station's SHO Ravindra Pratap Singh said. Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria wrote a letter to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday alleging that the minister, Udai Lal Anjana slapped a police constable after which the mob present .

Five persons were killed in a clash between two groups at Moti Hamirpar village in Kutch district of Gujarat on Saturday afternoon, police said. A group of people wielding sharp weapons attacked another group on suspicion that they were informing police about the hooch trade in nearby areas, said an official. Liquor production and sale are prohibited in Gujarat. Four persons were killed on the spot while another died at a hospital at Rapar. Kutch-East Superintendent of Police Parikshita Rathod said teams from nearby police stations and the local crime branch was deployed in the village to maintain peace. The deceased were identified as Jesang Rajput, Amra Rajput, Petha Bhavan Rajput, Vela Pecha and and Akhabhai. Further probe was on, the SP said.

Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Saturday lashed out at the Rajasthan government, saying it gave politics precedence over people's health and failed to contain the coronavirus spread. The Jodhpur MP said asked the state Congress government to introspect over deficiencies in dealing with the situation in his constituency, which is also the hometown of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. "Had there been no deficiencies, the government would not have failed in tackling coronavirus in Jaipur and Jodhpur, said Shekhawat. He alleged that the state government gave priority to politics over people's health' due to which the condition worsened' in the state, especially Jodhpur. In a statement, Shekhawat also accused Gehlot of not taking serious steps to contain coronavirus cases, saying the chief minister was indulging in politics of appeasement. Referring to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's claim that the Centre did not release funds for the state, Shekhawat said adequate budget ...

A 23-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly raping a girl on multiple occasions, recording the act and using it to blackmail her in Rajasthan's Jhalawar district, police said. The incident took place in a village under the Khanpur Police Station limits and the arrest was made on Friday, they said. The 17-year-old girl and her father had approached the Jhawalar SP with their complaint on Thursday, following which a First Information Report (FIR) was lodged under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, DSP and Circle Officer Bhanwar Singh Hada, who is investigating the case, said. The accused, identified as Saddam Hussain Pinjara, was on Saturday produced before a Jhalawar court which sent him to two days' police remand. In her complaint, the minor alleged that the accused, who is her neighbour, took her to an isolated place around three months ago and raped her at knifepoint and also clicked her pictures and recorded the

Five people were discharged from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Raipur in Chhattisgarh on Saturday after recovering from the novel coronavirus infection, health officials said. Those discharged include two women and a five-year-old boy, an official informed. So far 43 people have been discharged while the number of active cases in the state is 16, he added. "Two women and a boy from Kabirdham, two men from Durg and Surajpur were discharged after two consecutive tests were negative for the infection. They will be kept in a quarantine centre as a precaution before they are allowed to go home," a public relations officer of AIIMS Raipur told PTI. Chhattisgarh COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 59; New cases nil; Deaths nil; Discharged 43; Active cases 16; People tested so far 23,629.