LIVE: Assam CM speaks to PM Modi, Shah on clash at border with Mizoram

Farooq Abdullah's party linked the questioning to the recent move by him to bring together all J&K parties in a campaign for restoring special status. Stay tuned for Latest LIVE news

4:30 PM

Inox Wind bags 40 MW orders from retail customers across various industries

Inox Wind on Monday said it has won orders to supply and install wind turbine generators of 40 MW capacity from retail customers across various industries. The projects will be executed on a turnkey basis across locations in Gujarat and Karnataka.

 

"Inox Wind today announced new orders for the supply and installation of wind turbine generators of 40 MW from retail customers spread across various industries," a company statement said. The contracts include supply and commissioning of 2 MW DFIG 113 meters rotor diameter wind turbine generators as well as providing comprehensive operations and maintenance services for the life time of the project, it added. Read more

4:19 PM

Nadda to address four rallies, NDA meeting in Bihar on Oct 20, 21

Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda will address four public rallies in poll-bound Bihar on Tuesday and Wednesday and also speak at a meeting of leaders of the ruling National Democratic Alliance during a two-day visit to the state.

 

Nadda will address election rallies in Buxar and Arrah on Tuesday afternoon, party spokesperson Sanjay Mayukh said.

 

The BJP president will then address the NDA meeting in Arrah. District heads, MPs, district in-charges, assembly constituency in-charges, assembly convenors and candidates besides other important leaders from the region will participate in the meeting, he said.

 

On Wednesday, Nadda will address election rallies in Bettiah and Motihari, Mayukh said.

4:04 PM

Army apprehends Chinese soldier who strayed across LAC; to be returned

A Corporal of Chinese People's Liberation Army was apprehended in the Demchok sector of Eastern Ladakh on Monday after he had strayed across the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Indian Army said.

 

The Chinese soldier has been identified as Wang Ya Long and he has been provided with required medical assistance including oxygen, food and warm clothes, it said.

 

Both Indian and Chinese armies have deployed over 50,000 troops each along the LAC in eastern Ladakh including in the Demchok sector following escalation of the five-month-long military standoff that began in early May. Read more

3:48 PM

Uber India introduces mask verification selfie for riders too

Ride-hailing major Uber on Monday introduced a new safety policy which will request riders, who have been tagged for not wearing masks on a previous trip, to take a selfie which shows them wearing a mask, in order to book their next trip.

 

The move comes after Uber earlier this year built technology designed to verify that drivers on the platform are wearing a mask while on-trip, by clicking a selfie.

 

Since Uber began mask verification selfies for drivers in May 2020, more than 17.44 million verifications have been carried out throughout India.

 

This new feature aims to ensure that feedback received from drivers can help make the platform safer for the next user.

3:40 PM

WATCH | Flood-like situation in parts of Pune after heavy rainfall

3:26 PM

Bangladesh PM sends puja gifts to Mamata Banerjee

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sent congratulatory gifts to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the occasion of Durga Puja, a government official said on Monday.

 

The gifts were channelled through the protocol wing of the premier's office, an official in the prime minister's office, who was familiar with the process, said. The gifts have been sent through the Benapole-Petropole land route to be delivered to Banerjee through the Bangladesh deputy high commission officials in Kolkata.

 

Unconfirmed reports said the gifts included a sari, sweets and flowers.

 

3:10 PM

FM asks 14 CPSEs to spend 75% of Rs 1.15 trillion capex by December end

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday asked officials to ensure that 14 state-owned companies spend 75 per cent of their capital outlay for the year by the end of December.

 

This is because the government looks to maintain the pace of capital and infrastructure projects in a bid to soften the economic blow from the pandemic.

 

According to an official statement, Sitharaman held a video conference with secretaries of the ministries of petroleum and natural gas and ministry of coal, as well as the 14 PSUs under these departments. Read more

2:50 PM

Kerala HC dismisses govt's plea against Trivandrum airport lease to Adani

The Kerala government suffered a big setback on Monday after the High Court dismissed their plea against Centre's move to lease out the Thiruvananthapuram international airport to Adani Enterprises.

 

In its plea, the Kerala government has said the decision to lease out the airport for 50 years under the PPP model to Adani was not a proper deal.

 

The court ruled that the deal was fair and the Kerala government was given concessions and it also took part in the tender process, but Adani had won at the end.

2:41 PM

Over half the farmers not in favour of recently passed farm laws: Survey

With the Centre having planned an expanded outreach programme on the three agriculture laws passed recently in Parliament, a new survey has found more than half the farmers are not in favour of the laws, but a sizeable number of those opposed to the laws (about 36 per cent) are against them without knowing their full contents.

 

The survey, conducted by rural platform Gaon Connection, found that even among those supporting the legislations, which numbered around 35 per cent, almost 18 per cent were not aware about their content, which reflects a sharp lacunae in the Centre's efforts to create understanding about the laws.

 

The survey was conducted between between October 3 and October 9 across 53 districts in 16 states. Over 5,022 farmers were surveyed as part of the exercise. Read more

2:36 PM

PM Modi to deliver inaugural speech at Grand Challenges Annual Meet on 19 Oct

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the keynote address at the inaugural function of Grand Challenges Annual Meeting on Monday evening via video conferencing.

 

The Grand Challenges Annual Meeting, for the last 15 years, has fostered international innovation collaborations to address the biggest challenges in health and development, the Prime Minister's Office noted in a statement on Saturday.

 

It said the Grand Challenges Annual Meeting will convene this year virtually from 19 to 21 October, bringing together policymakers and science leaders.

2:14 PM

Twitter resolves geotag issue after showing J&K as part of China

After courting controversy for wrongly showing Jammu and Kashmir as part of China, Twitter on Monday said it has resolved the issue.

 

"We became aware of this technical issue on Sunday, and understand and respect the sensitivities around it. The teams have worked swiftly to investigate and resolve the concerned geotag issue," a Twitter spokesperson told IANS in a statement.

 

The issue was first brought to attention by national security analyst Nitin Gokhale after he went live on Twitter from Hall of Fame, a war memorial at Leh.

 

Gokhale went live on Twitter to tell people about his experience of reaching Ladakh from Himachal Pradesh through a new route. After completing the programme, he discovered that the location of the war memorial at Leh was shown as "Jammu and Kashmir, People's Republic of China."

 

2:00 PM

BoB, Accenture complete technology integration of former Vijaya Bank's branches

Accenture and Bank of Baroda have successfully completed the technology integration of the former Vijaya Banks branches with Bank of Baroda part of the post-merger integration of the three-way merger of public sector banks in India.

 

Accenture is now helping align former Dena Banks IT systems with Bank of Baroda, a joint statement said on Monday.

 

The merger of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank with Bank of Baroda in 2019 created the country's third largest public sector bank.

 

Upon completion, the combined technology architecture will help the merged entity seamlessly integrate its India- wide customer service and business operations network of nearly 9,000 bank branches and more than 12,000 ATMs, it said.

1:54 PM

BARC charges Republic TV with misrepresenting private communication

TV viewership rating agency BARC India has charged Republic TV of misrepresenting its private and confidential communication, saying it has not commented on the ongoing investigation into the alleged manipulation of ratings.

 

In a statement, Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) said it was cooperating with the law enforcement agencies in their ongoing investigation in the Television Rating Points (TRP) manipulation case.

 

Responding to claims by Republic TV that an email from BARC gives proof of the channel not being involved in any alleged malpractices, the agency said it was "highly disappointed" with the broadcaster's actions. Read more

1:40 PM

Voting in the shadow of Covid-19: How the EC prepared for Bihar elections

Few realise the intensive work that has gone into ensuring the elections to the Bihar assembly – the first set of state-level elections to be conducted under the shadow of Covid-19 – are seamless, without any complaint from anyone, whether voters or candidates, and the spirit of democracy is upheld.

 

But how to conduct an election amid a disease that fundamentally deters large gatherings? The Election Commission of India (ECI) battled with ideas and logistics to finally arrive at a solution which, while not optimal, ensured the spirit of the election was retained.

 

The first set of elections to be held after the Covid-19 pandemic was declared, were to the Rajya Sabha. As these are indirect, their management was not that hard. These were followed by the election of the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha – again, not so difficult to handle because the pool of those voting was limited (Members of the Rajya Sabha). Read on

12:44 PM

JP Nadda cracks whip, directs MLA Surendra Singh to stay away from Ballia firing incident probe

The central leadership of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday stepped in and cracked the whip against MLA Surendra Singh over his statements regarding the firing incident in Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh.

 

BJP National President JP Nadda has asked party's Uttar Pradesh chief Swatantra Dev Singh to convey it to the MLA to stay away from the probe, sources said.

 

This comes a day after the MLA met Swatantra Dev Singh in Lucknow after being summoned over his statements in connection with the Ballia incident in which a man had died after bullets were fired during a meeting for allotment of shops under government quota, in Durjanpur village.

 

"BJP National President JP Nadda spoke with UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh, expressing his displeasure over statements of MLA Surendra Singh regarding Ballia incident. He asked the party's UP chief to convey it to MLA Surendra Singh to stay away from the probe," BJP sources told ANI.