Union Home Minister Amit Shah has announced various schemes for Assam on Saturday. During his three-day visit to the Northeast, Shah launched various developmental projects from Kumar Bhaskar Barmakhetra, Amingaon. Speaking on the occasion, Shah admired Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. "The Northeast has emerged as the engine for the development of the country. The people who were busy in participating in agitations are now focusing on development," said Shah.
President, Secretary of Minority Development Council, Assam Nazir Hussain, and Imanul Islam have joined Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) on Saturday at its party head office in Guwahati. Along with the Hussain and Islam, other businessmen and journalists have also joined the party in the presence of the party General Secretary Jagadish Bhuyan.
The Centre will carry out a dry run of COVID-19 vaccination on December 28 and 29 in Assam, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Punjab to prepare the administration for the vaccination drive and assess the readiness of the planned activities. Each state will plan the dry run in two districts and preferably in different session type settings , for e.g. district hospital, CHC/PHC, urban site, private health facility, rural outreach etc, said a statement issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The Border Security Force (BSF) on Friday said that 3,204 illegal entrants were nabbed in the Indian territory while the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) denied by claiming there was no infiltration into India from their side. At the end of the 51st DG level talks (DLT) in Guwahati with the BGB, BSF Director General Rakesh Asthana addressed the media and said since September this year, the BSF has handed over 60 Bangladeshi nationals to its counterpart.
Union Minister Amit Shah has arrived in Guwahati on late Friday night for a two-day visit to take stock of the activities of Bharatiya Janata Party's Assam wing. As per initial reports, Shah would be formally launching the party's campaign for the upcoming Assam assembly polls. About 3000 community artists comprising dancers, performers and musicians reached the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport welcome the Home Minister. Around 10,000 earthen lamps were also lit along the National Highway.
Former Congress MLA Ajanta Neog, during a press conference on Saturday, said that she would speak up everything clearly "after joining the BJP". Neog made the remark after meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah at Amingaon earlier today. She added that the meeting was fruitful. BJP's Rajdeep Gowala, who was also present during the press meet, said the application for her joining has been filed and the party's decision is awaited.
An incident of a 40-year old person allegedly raping a 6-year old girl has sent chills down the spine of the people of Tezpur's Harigaon. As per sources, the incident took place when the accused identified as one Hemen Nayak, lured the minor by giving 10 rupees and took her to a nearby paddy field and allegedly raped her. Fortunately, a passerby woman, upon hearing her screams, rushed to the village and alerted the locals. Later, the locals beat up the accused and handed him over to the Kacharigaon police station.
The transport department has notified the resumption of pollution certificates checking from January 2021 as the validity of all vehicular certificates that were earlier extended will be ending on December 31. It added that strict action will be taken if one fails to provide the same. According to a District Transport Office (DTO) official, the department is all set to start checking for pollution certificates from January 2021. He also said that vehicles whose certificates have expired will have to get a new one at the earliest.
Vartika Singh, an acclaimed international shooter, has registered a case against Union Minister Smriti Irani and three others, including her secretary for corruption. They demanded Rs 25 lakh to make her a member of the Central Commission for Women. Vartika alleged that the minister's two aides, Vijay Gupta and Rajnish Singh, initially demanded Rs 1 crore from her but, looking at her profile, later reduced it to Rs 25 lakh.
Rajasthan's Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) led by Hanuman Beniwal has quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over the three farm laws that have invoked massive protests by the farmers in the national capital. "We won't stand with anyone who are against farmers," Mr Beniwal, a Lok Sabha MP from Rajasthan's Nagaur, said, addressing protesters at the Shahjahanpur-Kheda border in Rajasthan's Alwar district.
Jay Kishore Pradhan, a retired banker from Odisha, has cracked the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) earlier this year and enrolled himself as a first-year MBBS student at the state-run Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology in the disability reservation category on Wednesday. Pradhan, whose ageless exploit is being described as a rare event in India's medical education history, says he wants to serve people as long as he is alive.
The 100th 'Kisan Rail' will be flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Sangola in Maharashtra to Shalimar in West Bengal on Monday (Dec 28) via video-conferencing, PMO said on Saturday. The train will carry vegetables such as capsicum, cabbage, drumstick, chilli, cauliflower and onion as well assorted fruits. The officer further said that loading and unloading of perishable commodities will be allowed at all stoppages enroute with no bar on the size of the consignment. A 50 per cent subsidy on the transportation of fruits and vegetables was also extended.
Television Rating Points or TRPs are crucial in evaluating audience's viewership habits of any broadcast channel. However, the statement made by Mumbai Police on Friday that the audit report of the Broadcast Audience Research Council confirmed TRPs were manipulated deliberately in the alleged scam involving three channels including news channel Republic TV has raised serious concerns about the flawed system of measuring the television audience's viewing habits across the country. In a bid to make Republic TV No.1, top-notch employees of the Council manipulated the ratings and pushed news channel Times Now to slot 2 and CNN-News 18 to slot No.3 from No.2. A probe in to the matter by Mumbai Police started in October, after the findings of forensic audit by a third party came to light.
A latest development in the TRP manipulation scam, Mumbai joint commissioner (crime) Milind Bharambe confirmed that in an attempt to make Republic TV No.1, BARC ratings were manipulated by its top-notch employees to push English news channel Times Now from the top slot to No.2. Bharambe claimed that Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) audit report stated through manipulation of the ratings, Times Now was deliberately pushed to No.2 and CNN-News 18 to No.3 from the No.2 slot and made Republic TV no.1 within a week of the channel's launch in 2017.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched the Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY SEHAT scheme via video-conferencing to extend health insurance coverage to all residents of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Union Territory's Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha , also spoke on the occasion. The scheme will ensure universal health coverage, and focus on providing financial risk protection and ensuring quality and affordable essential health services to all individuals and communities, said in a tweet published by PMO India.
