13 booked for firing air shots at Mahatma Gandhi's effigy

New Delhi, Feb 11: Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari on Tuesday said the party will review why it failed to meet its own expectations in the Assembly polls and saw a moral victory in the fact that the party's vote share has increased since 2015.

"Delhi must have given mandate after careful thinking. Our vote percentage has increased from 32 per cent to around 38 per cent. Delhi did not reject us and the increase (in vote share) is a good sign for us," he told reporters.

He said the BJP hopes that there would be less blame game and more work in the national capital and congratulated Arvind Kejriwal on his party's victory in the polls.

After winning the Patparganj seat, AAP senior leader Manish Sisodia accused the BJP of indulging in the politics of hate.

"We indulge in politics of development not politics of hate. We're against the roadblock in Shaheen Bagh as we were earlier," he said.

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 9: The Kerala government has set up five COVID-19 helpdesks for non-resident Keralites in countries which have a substantial number of Pravasi Malayalis.

Addressing a press conference here Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said: "In order to address the concerns and issues faced by the non-resident Keralites, we have set up five dedicated COVID helpdesks in countries where we have a substantial number of Pravasi Malayalis."

The helpdesks started by Norka Roots will be managed locally by persons and voluntary organisations active among non-resident Keralites. The Kerala government has requested the Indian Ambassadors in various places to cooperate with these helpdesks.

The Chief Minister also informed that online medical services would be made available to the non-resident Keralites through the Norka Roots website.

"Pravasi Malayalis can consult prominent doctors in Kerala by audio or video calls through the website, with prior registration. The services of various speciality doctors will be available from 2 pm to 6 pm IST," he said.

Currently, registration for the Norka Pravasi ID card is only available for the Malayali expatriates residing or working abroad for a period of not less than six months. "Now students from Kerala studying abroad can also avail this facility. The overseas student registration service would enable them to get Insurance benefits and discounts on flight tickets. This registration will be mandatory for all students presently studying abroad as well as for those going abroad, from now on," Vijayan said.

The Pravasi ID card is a multi-purpose photo identity card that entitles every non-resident Keralite to avail all services and facilities offered by Norka Root. The card comes with an add-on Personal Accident Insurance (PAI) coverage. Two prominent airlines are offering a discount on the base fare for air tickets booked by Norka Id card holders. 

New Delhi, Feb 6: Unemployment rate in the country as per a new survey was 6.1 per cent in 2017-18, the government informed Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Minister of State for Labour Santosh Gangwar said the government is conducting a new Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) with new parameters and bigger sample size, and its results cannot be compared with previous surveys in this regard.

"As per the new Periodic Labour Force Survey being conducted by the government, the labour force participation is 36.9 per cent and the rate of unemployment for 2017-18 is 6.1 per cent," he said.

Replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour, the minister said the report of this survey is very different than the surveys conducted in previous years.

This survey is not comparable to previous surveys, he said, adding it was an attempt to provide authentic data with the new survey conducted through the Ministry of Statistics.

"We are focusing on infrastructure development and ease of doing business and India's position in the world has improved. India has improved its position to 63rd rank now in 2019 against 196 in previous years," he said.

"Our government is very conscious of creating employment opportunities and is running such programme which generates employment.

"The way our government is functioning, employment opportunities are being created and the youths are getting jobs also," the minister said.

Gangwar said the government has stopped the previous survey as the sample size was low and an attempt is being made to improve the data by adding various parameters and provide more authentic data.

The minister said it will take time for collection of data as households have to be visited on the ground for authentic data collection in rural areas also.