A resident of Domri village in Uttar Pradesh, adopted by PM Modi, was invited by a rickshaw puller to attend his daughter’s wedding. Mangal Kewat had sent the wedding invitation to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in Delhi. Kewat had in his letter urged Prime Minister Modi to visit them for his daughter’s wedding on February 12. “Some of my friends asked me to send an invitation to Modiji so I sent one to Delhi and one to his Varanasi office,” he said, according to IANS. The Prime Minister, in turn, sent a letter to Kewat, congratulating him on his…
Author: Our Correspondent
The possibility that a SARS-like virus could re-emerge in China was warned by researchers in 2007. Experts had claimed that the presence of a large reservoir of SARS-CoV-like viruses in horseshoe bats in southern China is a “time bomb”. The outbreak of coronavirus and SARS in China is believed to have passed from bats and other animals to humans in a wet market. “The presence of a large reservoir of SARS-CoV-like viruses in horseshoe bats, together with the culture of eating exotic mammals in southern China, is a time bomb. The possibility of the re-emergence of SARS and other novel…
Srinivas Gowda, from Moodabidri in Karnataka’s coastal district of Dakshina Kannada has shot to fame overnight after he became the fastest runner in the history of the traditional sport of Karnataka, breaking a 30-year-old record. Gowda, a construction worker is being compared to the Olympic gold medallist sprinter Usain Bolt after he achieved a record-breaking win in a buffalo race. Srinivas Gowda, 28, was competing in Kambala, a sport from the southern state of Karnataka where people sprint 142m through paddy fields with buffalo. Mr Gowda is said to have finished in 13.42 seconds. Bolt holds the world 100m record…
Ahead of US President Donald Trump’s India visit, terror outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) has released a video that calls for “revenge” and says “the killers would not be forgiven”. The video threatens the Indian government, and says “the way you harassed the Muslims and destroyed their settlements will be avenged”. In the video, a person citing Quran Sharif, can be heard saying: “We have heard a lot of lullabies on peace… now every excuse has gone… it’s time to see things ‘unrestrained’.” Sources say the video and its contents are Pakistan’s attempt to show during Trump’s tour that “Kashmiris are angry…
For anti-terror operations in the Jammu and Kashmir, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has decided to use drones, which will carry out reconnaissance in built-up areas to locate terrorists. “During operations, terrorists hide in built-up areas and start firing on forces. To identify the source of fire, drones would be used,” said a senior IPS officer. The drones would also assist the forces in “close-range missions”, the officer added. The captured data of the site would help make on-the-spot strategy and pin-point the the holed-up terrorist’s location. The drones would be under CRPF’s command in Rambagh in Srinagar. The…
In a move with large scale disruption potential, the Income Tax Department has said that Permanent Account Number (PAN) will become inoperative if not linked with Aadhaar by March 31, 2020. It may be recalled that the deadline for linking of PAN and Aadhar has been extended several times and the latest deadline ends on 31 March, 2020. As per the latest figures, over 30.75 crore PANs have already been linked to Aadhaar. However, 17.58 crore PANs are yet to be linked with the 12-digit biometric ID. The Supreme Court had in September 2018 declared Aadhaar as constitutionally valid and…
Ahmedabad city is gearing up for the maiden visit of US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump with top-grade security being put in place. Areas the the top dignitaries would be visiting or passing by along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be guarded by National Security Guard commandos’ anti-sniper units. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be inaugurating the world’s largest cricket stadium at Motera. The stadium, being built at a cost of Rs 800 crore, has a capacity to hold 1.25 lakh spectators and is on the verge of completion. The Trump visit event at Motera, a…
In the backdrop of protests by the non-BJP ruled states to conduct National Population Register (NPR) exercise, the Centre has began an outreach programme to meet the Chief Ministers of such regions to allay their apprehensions, officials said on Friday. As part of the Government’s outreach programme, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India Vivek Joshi on Friday met Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and apprised him about the upcoming Census preparations. Punjab is among the non-BJP ruled states, including Kerala, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, which have opposed NPR expressing apprehensions about the exercise. Joshi, who will…
A Chinese national undergoing treatment at Naidu Hospital in Pune has praised the Indian healthcare system. The Chinese citizen was admitted to the hospital after he showed symptoms of the novel coronavirus. It has, however, yet to be confirmed if the patient was suffering from the coronavirus, according to doctors. In a letter written — in English and Chinese — to the doctors of Naidu Hospital, the patient talked about the facilities in the Pune hospital. The Union Health Ministry has shared the letter on Twitter. “Although it is an isolation ward, I have never felt that I am living…
Researchers have revealed that chronic kidney disease caused 1.23 million deaths worldwide in 2017 and the rates of people needing dialysis have increased more than 40 per cent since 1990. According to the findings, published in the journal The Lancet, there were 697.5 million cases of chronic kidney disease in 2017 and nearly one-third of those patients lived in two countries – China, with about 132 million cases, and India, with about 115 million. “Chronic kidney disease is a global killer hidden in plain sight. The evidence is clear: Many nations’ health systems cannot keep pace with the dialysis demand.…