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6:23 PM

Ahead of K'taka polls, Kharge calls meeting of state Congress leaders in Delhi tomorrow

As assembly elections in Karnataka are due in the next few months, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has called a meeting of the party's senior leaders from the state on Monday in New Delhi to discuss the preparations and the strategy for the polls.

According to a party functionary, 14 leaders from the state, including Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar, and state legislature party leader Siddaramaiah, will be attending the meeting at the AICC office.

Amid signs of factionalism within the state unit, Kharge is likely to instruct the party leaders to work in a united manner for ensuring victory, the functionary said.

6:17 PM

Maharashtra: Male leopard captured in Nashik's Deolali area, locals told to remain alert

The state forest department officials have successfully trapped a male leopard in an installed cage at the Deolali area in Nashik, forest department officials say.

Range forest officer Vivek Bhadane said, "Ten days ago, we received a complaint about a Leopard being spotted in Deolali area of Nashik. We laid a trap on Saturday, and captured an adult male leopard."

"The leopard has been sent to a nursery at Gangapur in Nashik," he said.

Maharashtra's Nashik city forest divisional officer Vivek Bhadane said that the forest department has succeeded in imprisoning the leopard in a cage built near an army school in the military area.

 

6:09 PM

DGCA issues 1,081 commercial pilot licenses in 2022, highest in past decade

Aviation regulator DGCA has issued 1,081 commercial pilot licenses in 2022, which is the highest for any year in the last one decade, according to the official data.

The record issuance of Commercial Pilot Licenses (CPLs) also comes at a time when the country's civil aviation sector is recovering at a fast pace after being hit by the coronavirus pandemic and the domestic air traffic is inching towards the pre-pandemic level.

A senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) told PTI on Sunday that 1,081 CPLs have been issued in 2022 till December 6 and the number is likely to cross 1,100 by the year-end.

This is also the highest for any year since 2011, as per the data. In 2014, the number of CPLs issued stood at 896 while the count was at 862 in 2021.

 

5:39 PM

Want to implement promises as soon as possible: Priyanka Gandhi in Shimla

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday said that her party wants to implement the promises made to the people of Himachal Pradesh as soon as possible.

Speaking to ANI after new CM Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu's oath ceremony, Priyanka Gandhi said, "We are very happy and we want to implement whatever we have promised as soon as possible."

Mukesh Agnihotri, former leader of the opposition, also took oath as the deputy chief minister of Himachal Pradesh.

Governor RV Arlekar administered the oath to them at a formal function at Ridge Maidan in Shimla.

 

5:35 PM

AK-47 rifles, pistols recovered by BSF along India-Pak border in Punjab

A cache of arms and ammunition, including two AK-47 assault rifles, was recovered by the Border Security Force (BSF) on Sunday along the India-Pakistan International Border in Punjab, an officer said.

The recovery was made from Chandi Wala village in Ferozepur district when BSF troopers were on an "area domination patrol" and observed some freshly dug soil.

A packet containing two AK-47 rifles, two pistols and 40 bullets were found by the personnel, the officer said.

5:22 PM

Tata group-owned Air India puts in place ethics governance structure

The Tata group-owned Air India has put in place an ethics governance structure and is also establishing committees at the apex and regional levels to bolster the ethics culture at the airline, according to an internal document.

The apex ethics committee has been set up at the senior leadership level with Air India Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Campbell Wilson as its head and includes the airline's Chief Ethics Counsellor, Chief Human Resources Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operations Officer as its members.

This committee has the mandate to formalise ethics-related guidelines, approve policies and procedures related to ethics, and will be the final escalation point for the regional ethics committees.

Tata Group regained ownership of Air India from the central government in January this year.

 

5:13 PM

Kerala HC proposes extending time of worship at Sabarimala for crowd control

The Kerala high court has proposed an extension of the time of worship for devotees at the Sabarimala temple by an hour on busy days.

The Devaswom Bench of the high court mooted the proposal after convening a special sitting on Sunday. The court had asked the board to consider extending the time of worship after taking suo motu cognisance of a recent rush of devotees at the Sabarimala temple, which left quite a few of them injured.

The bench of justices Anil K Narendran and PG Ajithkumar also dircted the Pathanamthitta district collector and the police to control the crowd at the Sabarimala shrine.

 

5:02 PM

Lessons to be learnt from Gujarat loss; no such thing as 'silent' campaign in hard-fought polls: Chidambaram

The Congress is best placed to be the "pole" around which a non-BJP front can be built for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, senior party leader P Chidambaram said on Sunday and asserted that the Aam Aadmi Party does not have much appeal outside Delhi with the exception of Haryana and Punjab.

Chidambaram also stressed that there were lessons to be learnt by the Congress from the Gujarat loss, saying there is no such thing as a "silent" campaign in a hard-fought election.

In an interview with PTI, he also said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) played spoiler in Gujarat, like it did earlier in Goa and Uttarakhand.

 

4:59 PM

Bhupendra Patel to take oath as Gujarat CM on Monday; PM Modi to attend

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Bhupendra Patel will take oath as the Chief Minister of Gujarat for a second straight term in Gandhinagar on Monday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other dignitaries, BJP leaders said on Sunday.

Patel will be administered the oath as the 18th chief minister by Governor Acharya Devvrat at a function to be held at the Helipad Ground near the new Secretariat in Gandhinagar at 2 PM. Besides the prime minister, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and chief ministers of other BJP-ruled states are set to attend the swearing-in ceremony, BJP sources said.

Along with Patel, some new ministers are also expected to take the oath.

 

4:48 PM

PM Modi congratulates new Himachal CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu

4:29 PM

India cannot miss the fourth industrial revolution, says PM Modi

India cannot afford to miss the fourth industrial revolution, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday, stressing that such "opportunities" may not come again and again.

Addressing a gathering after launching developmental projects in Maharashtra, PM Modi said India had already missed out on making the most of the industrial revolutions in the past.

"When the first industrial revolution came, India could not take benefit from it. We lagged behind in the second and third industrial revolution, but today when it's time for the fourth industrial revolution, India cannot miss it. A long-term vision is pivotal for stable growth and development. India cannot miss the fourth industrial revolution, opportunity won't come again," PM Modi said.

 

3:59 PM

Board examinations may begin from Feb 15, practicals from Jan 1: CBSE

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) examinations will begin from February 15, as per the tentative date notified by the board. The official datesheet has not been released yet.

CBSE released an official notice stating that practical exams for classes 10 and 12 would start from January 1, 2023.

Students can visit the CBSE website for detailed information.

Class 10 examinations of ICSE will start from February 27 and examinations for Class 12 will commence from February 13.

 

3:57 PM

Over 1.5 million people left without power in Ukraine's port city Odesa

Darkness has gripped Ukraine's Odesa as over 1.5 million people in the port city were left without electricity amid dipping temperatures after the energy facilities were hit, Al Jazeera reported.

During his nightly address, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the situation is very difficult in the port city of Odesa as the energy facilities might take months to get repaired.

According to the Ukrainian authorities, Odesa was left without electricity after two energy facilities in the area were attacked by drones built in Iran during the continuing conflict, causing damage to the energy infrastructure. According to officials, during the early hours of Saturday, Russian strikes struck important transmission lines and machinery, reported Al Jazeera.

Odesa, which is the largest port city of Ukraine had a population of more than one million before Russia invaded the country on February 24 this year.

 

3:40 PM

PM Modi says investment in infrastructure made Singapore, Gulf states global economic hubs

Speaking on the importance of investments in infrastructure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday gave the examples of Singapore and the Gulf nations which have become global economic centres by the virtue of their thought-out investments in infrastructure.

"Politics of shortcuts will never help anybody. What is needed is a long-term and holistic model of development which empowers people," Prime Minister Modi said in Nagpur while inaugurating 11 projects on Sunday.

He said, "No country can run with shortcuts. Apart from working with sustainable development and sustainable solutions, a long-term vision is very important for the progress of the country."

3:19 PM

BJP conspired against JD(U) in 2020 Bihar assembly polls, says Nitish Kumar

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday accused the BJP of working against the JD(U) during the 2020 assembly elections despite being in an alliance at that time. He reaffirmed that parties opposed to the BJP can win with a "huge majority" in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls if they agree to join hands.

 

Addressing the plenary session of his Janata Dal (United), Kumar alleged that his party's unsatisfactory performance in the last assembly elections was because of the then alliance partner BJP.

 

"They (BJP) should be reminded that never before had our party won fewer seats, either in assembly polls of 2005 or 2010. In 2020, we suffered as they tried to ensure the defeat of our candidates," said the JD(U) de facto leader about his former alliance partner which he did not mention by name.