LIVE: Shiv Sena decides to contest the West Bengal Assembly elections

Latest News LIVE: Kevadiya station is India's first railway station with a Green Building Certification. Stay tuned for Latest LIVE news updates

Latest LIVE news updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday flagged off eight trains connecting different parts of the country to Kevadia in Gujarat, via video conferencing. These trains will connect Kevadia to Varanasi, Dadar, Ahmedabad, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Rewa, Chennai and Pratapnagar. Modi said these trains will help boost tourism in the tribal region and increase connectivity to the world's tallest statue, the Statue of Unity.

BJP's Puducherry unit Treasurer and MLA K G Shankar died of cardiac arrest at his residence early Sunday, his family said. The 70-year old leader, a nominated MLA of the Union Territory Assembly, is survived by wife, a son and a daughter.

In another news, the Central government on Saturday requested the state governments across the country to rethink the ban on the sale of poultry, and allow the selling of poultry products sourced from non-infected areas/states.

On the political front, the first of the three-phase Panchayati Raj Institution elections in Himachal Pradesh will be held today, and over 1,200 panchayats will go to polls. Voting in 1,227 gram panchayats will be held from 8 am to 4 pm, and the remaining two phases are slated to be held on January 19 and January 21.

Meanwhile, farmer leader Baldev Singh Sirsa and Punjabi actor Deep Sidhu have been summoned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for questioning today in a case related to Sikhs for Justice (SFJ). 

Cold weather conditions continued to persist at many places in Haryana and Punjab on Sunday, with temperatures hovering below the normal limits.

Stay tuned for the latest news of the day.

6:57 PM

Schools, coaching institutes in Rajasthan set to reopen Monday

Schools and coaching institutes in Rajasthan are set to reopen in the state on Monday after remaining closed for nearly 10 months with wearing of face masks, maintaining social distancing and thermal scanning made mandatory for the students.

 

These institutes were closed on March 21 last year.

 

The government has decided to restart schools from classes nine to 12 with each room having 50 per cent seating capacity and students attending classes with consent from their parents.

 

For students of coaching institutes coming from other states, they will have to get themselves tested for COVID-19, a day before joining classes. All coaching institutes will have to send details of their students to the nodal officer appointed by the district collector.

6:52 PM

Modi talks about 5G coming to India, while Kashmir is still living under 2G: Farooq Abdullah

6:48 PM

Shivsena has decided to contest the West Bengal Elections: Sanjay Raut

6:25 PM

Avian flu: 836 Maha birds found dead, samples sent for tests

Deaths of 836 different birds were reported on January 16 across Maharashtra and samples have been sent for bird flu tests in laboratories in Pune and Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal, officials said on Sunday.

 

As per an official statement, the deaths include that of 745 poultry birds, with Nagpur and Amravati districts from Vidarbha region reporting deaths of 290 and 75 poultry birds respectively.

5:31 PM

Indian classical musician Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan passes away

5:20 PM

EC team to visit Assam from Monday to review poll preparedness

Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora is scheduled to arrive in Assam on Monday on a three-day visit to take stock of preparations for assembly polls due in March-April, officials said.

 

The CEC will hold separate meetings with senior officials of the state government, including the chief secretary, home secretary, director general of police, chief electoral officer and police nodal officer.

5:16 PM

UK must not do trade deals with rights abusers: Dominic Raab

Britain should not engage in free trade with countries that abuse human rights, but proposals that the country's courts should decide whether genocide has been committed by trade partners is flawed, foreign minister Dominic Raab said.

 

Last week, Raab said Britain would introduce new rules for its companies to try to prevent goods linked to China's Xinjiang region entering their supply chains.

4:42 PM

Maharashtra's ruling parties Shiv Sena, Congress spar over renaming Aurangabad city

The Shiv Sena and the Congress, which are ruling allies in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, on Sunday sparred over renaming Aurangabad city, with the Uddhav Thackeray-led party saying it is not "secular" behaviour if one finds "cruel and religiously blind" Mughal emperor Aurangzeb "dear".

 

Hitting back, the Congress accused the Sena and the opposition BJP of playing politics over renaming and asked them why they did not they remember the issue while they were in power in Maharashtra for the past five years.

4:32 PM

India's demographic dividend needs to be fully leveraged; Venkaiah Naidu

India's biggest strength is its 'demographic dividend' and people need to fully leverage it to fast-track the country's progress in various sectors, Vice- President M Venkaiah Naidu said here on Sunday.

 

Naidu also called upon the youth of the country to be at the forefront in accelerating progress and scripting the country's growth story.

 

"One of our biggest strengths today is our demographic dividend.

4:29 PM

More than 3,600 birds rescued in 2020: Delhi Fire Service

Firefighters in the national capital rescued more than 3,600 birds between January-December last year, officials said on Sunday.

 

The maximum number of such cases were reported around Independence Day in August when people traditionally fly kites and the strings remain suspended on trees and poles creating a death trap for birds.

 

According to data shared by the Delhi Fire Service (DFS), the firefighters in the national capital responded to 25,416 distress calls last year, of which 3,691 were for rescue of birds and 2,902 for animals.

4:24 PM

Russian cargo ship sinks in the Black Sea, rescue underway

A Russian-flagged dry goods ship sank off the Black Sea coast in Turkey on Sunday and a rescue operations for the crew was underway, an official said.

 

The governor of Bartin province announced the shipwreck off Inkumu in northern Turkey and said emergency workers were out trying to rescue 15 people on three lifeboats.

4:11 PM

India among fastest growing markets: Prime Video

India is among the fastest growing markets for Amazon Prime Video (APV) globally, and the content streaming platform is focussing its investments on bringing more content and expanding the service to a larger audience in the country, a top company official said.

 

APV, which has recently partnered with Airtel to bring a mobile-only plan (a global first) for Indian users, competes with platforms like Netflix, Disney+Hotstar, Zee5 and others in the country.

 

"We've been in the country for the last four years and growing very steadily...APV is watched in over 4,300 cities and towns in the country, and India is amongst the fastest growing markets for Prime and APV. Our investments in content across 10 languages, both originals and films, have helped us," Amazon Prime Video India Director and Country General Manager Gaurav Gandhi told PTI.

4:11 PM

Delhi schools prepare to open the doors for classes 10 and 12

Staggered and shorter class hours, frequent sanitisation, and entry and exit through multiple gates are among various new ways adopted by schools in Delhi as they prepare to welcome students of classes 10 and 12 back on Monday, for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic forced closure of educational institutes in March last year.

 

The Delhi government has allowed all schools outside Covid-19 containment zones to reopen for classes 10 and 12 from January 18 in view of board exams. However, it made clear that physical attendance is not compulsory and students will attend schools only with consent of parents.

 

The Directorate of Education (DoE) has instructed schools to follow all Covid-19 guidelines when classroom studies resume.

4:06 PM

Shift Freight expects its topline to touch Rs 50 cr by FY22

On-demand shifting services provider Shift Freight expects its topline to touch Rs 50 crore by the end of fiscal 2022on the back of a pan-India presence and a significant jump in daily movements, its Co-founder, Avinash Raghav has said.

 

The Noida-based start-up entered the fast-growing logistic services space just prior to the imposition of the coronavirus-induced lockdown in March last year.

 

The firm with presence across 10 cities including Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Jaipur, among others, conducts over 1,000 movements per month and is growing at 75-80 per cent month-on-month in terms of both order and revenue, with a fleet of 560 trucks attached to the platform, according to Raghav.

4:03 PM

DHFL creditors vote in favour of Piramal's $5 billion bid: Report

Creditors of India's Dewan Housing Finance Corp have voted in favour of a 372.5 billion rupees ($5.09 billion)takeover bid submitted by the Piramal Group for the troubled "shadow" lender, a source with knowledge of their decision said on Sunday.

 

DHFL's creditors finished voting on Friday evening, and the source requested anonymity as the result has not been officially released.