New Delhi, Feb 27: The death toll in the communal violence in northeast Delhi over the amended citizenship law reached 32 on Thursday, senior officials said.
It was at 27 till Wednesday night.
"Five more deaths recorded at GTB Hospital, so death toll at that hospital has gone up to 30, taking total toll to 32," a senior Delhi Health Department official told news agency.
The Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital had reported two fatalities on Wednesday.
Srinagar, Jan 9: Envoys from 15 countries including the United States were shown around Srinagar on Thursday, the first visit by New Delhi-based diplomats since the government stripped Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status and began a harsh crackdown five months ago.
The diplomats were driven by Indian authorities in a motorcade amid tight security from the airport to the military headquarters in Srinagar, where they were briefed on the security situation, an army officer said. He spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
They also held discussions with civil society members and some Kashmiri politicians, said Raveesh Kumar, spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
The objective of the visit, organized by the Union government, was for the envoys to see first-hand “how things have progressed and how normalcy has been restored to a large extent'' in Kashmir since August, Kumar told reporters in New Delhi.
In October, a group of European Parliament members had visited the region, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan.
The delegation that visited Kashmir on Thursday included US ambassador to India Kenneth Juster and diplomats from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Norway, the Maldives, South Korea, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Argentina, the Philippines, Fiji, Uzbekistan, Peru and Togo.
Offices, shops and businesses were open in Srinagar on the cold winter day, but the diplomats did not stop to talk to people as they moved to different venues of their meetings.
They were to fly to Jammu, the winter capital of Kashmir, later Thursday and return to New Delhi on Friday.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh pointed out the oddity of taking foreign diplomats to the troubled state but not allowing allowing Indian political leaders to freely visit it.
The National Conference said it was "disappointed" with the way the government brought envoys from various countries to "endorse" its "claims of normalcy" in the union territory. The party alleged that it was no more than a "guided tour" with access limited to "handpicked individuals who toe the government line".
“The NC wishes to ask these envoys that if the situation in Jammu & Kashmir is "normal", then why are scores of people, including three former chief ministers, under detention for almost 160 days and why have the people been denied access to the internet for over 5 months?" a statement issued by the party said.
Kumar dismissed as unfounded criticism of the visit, and said more such visits to Kashmir by New Delhi-based diplomats are likely in the near future.
New Delhi, Feb 9: As the outbreak of novel coronavirus has lead to the death of more than 800 Chinese nationals, aviation regulator DGCA on Saturday said that foreigners who went to China on or after January 15 will not be allowed to enter India.
The DGCA, in its circular to airlines on Saturday, reiterated that all visas issued to Chinese nationals before February 5 have been suspended.
However, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) clarified, "These visa restrictions will not apply to aircrew, who may be Chinese nationals or other foreign nationalities coming from China."
"Foreigners who have been to China on or after January 15, 2020, are not allowed to enter India from any air, land or seaport, including Indo-Nepal, Indo-Bhutan, Indo-Bangladesh or Indo-Myanmar land borders," the DGCA said.
Among Indian airlines, IndiGo and Air India have suspended all of their flights between the two countries. SpiceJet continues to fly on Delhi-Hong Kong route.
On February 1 and 2, Air India conducted two special flights to Chinese city of Wuhan, epicentre of the outbreak, evacuating 647 Indians and seven Maldivians.
Till date, three Indians have tested positive for novel coronavirus.
Lucknow, Jul 24: The Congress in Uttar Pradesh on Friday protested against what it dubbed as deliberate and systematic deletions of chapters dealing in freedom struggle and the party's role in it from the syllabi of Classes 10 and 12 of the Secondary Education Board.
Congress leader Anugrah Narain Singh said: "The deletions effected in Class 12 syllabus clearly has political overtones. Chapters dealing with the freedom movement and the Congress role in it have been cut out. The BJP has no role of its own in the country's history and, therefore, wants that the new generations should not learn about the Congress contribution as well."
A Congress delegation submitted a memorandum to UP Eduction Board Secretary Divya Kant Shukla to demand restoration of the deleted chapters and topics.
BJP MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi accused the opposition Congress of "turning every occasion into a political opportunity during the pandemic".
"The Congress is unnecessarily making an issue out of this. Only some portions have been deleted from the syllabi due to shortening of the academic session due to the nationwide lockdown. People already know about the Congress and the cut in the syllabi is only temporary. The Congress is unnecessarily trying to create a political controversy," she said.
Prof Yogeshwar Tiwari of the History Department in the Allahabad University dubbed the changes made in the syllabi as "unfortunate". "The history is not of the Congress alone -- it is the history of the nation and every student must know about it," he said.
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