Kashmir unrest: Rajnath postpones US trip

July 12, 2016

New Delhi, Jul 12: With Kashmir on the edge, Home Minister Rajnath Singh has postponed his visit to the United States to attend the Indo-US Homeland Security Dialogue scheduled for next week.

rajnathA Home Ministry official cited the busy schedule during the coming Monsoon session of Parliament beginning July 18 as the reason for the deferment of the visit.

However, tension in Kashmir Valley in the wake of killing of Hizbul Mujahedeen militant Burhan Wani could be the other key factor for the postponement of the Home Minister's five-day visit to America, sources said.

New dates have not been fixed but the trip now may take place sometime in September, the official said.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi away on a foreign trip, the Home Minister, who is responsible for the internal security of the country, has been leading the central government's efforts to bring back normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir, where 24 people have lost their lives ever since violent protests started following Wani's death.

Singh has held a series of meetings with top Union Ministers, officials and reached out to opposition leaders like Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah as parts of efforts to bring back peace and normalcy in Kashmir Valley.

The Home Minister was supposed to lead the Indian delegation at the Indo-US Homeland Security Dialogue to be held in Washington with the US team to be headed by Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Charles Johnson.

Further cementing anti-terror cooperation, real-time sharing of intelligence inputs, cyber security and critical infrastructure protection, countering illicit finance, global supply chain security, megacity policing and science and technology are some of the other key issues supposed to be discussed at the strategic meeting.

This senior-level exchange between India and the US is part of the strategic homeland security partnership and aimed at enhancing operational cooperation in investigations, capacity building, and countering threats.

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Agencies
July 7,2020

New Delhi, Jul 7: Diesel price in the national capital on Tuesday touched an all-time high following a rate hike after a week-long hiatus.

Diesel price on Tuesday was increased by 25 paise per litre, according to a price notification of state-owned oil marketing companies.

This took the retail selling price of diesel to Rs 80.78 per litre in the national capital - the highest ever.

There was no change in petrol price for the 8th straight day, and it continues to be priced at Rs 80.43 per litre.

Rates vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

Petrol and diesel price were last revised on June 29.

In the last one month, diesel price has been increased on 23 occasions while petrol rates have risen 21 times.

The cumulative increase since the oil companies started the cycle on June 7, totals to Rs 9.17 for petrol and Rs 11.39 in diesel.

In Mumbai, petrol is priced at Rs 87.19 - unchanged since June 29, while diesel was hiked to Rs 79.05 a litre from Rs 78.83.

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News Network
June 15,2020

New Delhi, Jun 15: With an increase of 11,502 cases in the past 24 hours, the COVID-19 count in India reached 3,32,424 on Monday, according to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry.

The spike is marginally lower than the highest-ever spike of 11,929 new cases the country registered a day earlier.

With 325 deaths being reported from across the country, the toll due to COVID-19 has now reached 9,520.

The COVID-19 count includes 1,53,106 active cases while 1,69,798 patients have been cured and discharged or migrated so far.

Maharashtra with 1,07,958 cases continues to be the worst-affected state in the country with 53,030 active cases while 50,978 patients have been cured and discharged in the state so far. 3,950 deaths have been reported due to the infection so far from Maharashtra.

It is followed by Tamil Nadu with 44,661 cases and the national capital with 41,182 confirmed cases.

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News Network
April 26,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 26: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday urged media houses not to resort to layoffs and pay cuts while the whole community is facing the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chief Minister said the state government will also take necessary steps to test the media personnel in the state to ensure they have not contracted the deadly virus.

He also pointed out that the pandemic has severely impacted the media sector with many newspapers even reducing the number of pages.

"Journalists are among those who have been affected the most. Journalists on the field are also in danger. We have come to know about the reporters affected with coronavirus in other states. The government will take necessary precautions including testing to ensure that journalists don't contract the disease," Vijayan said.

He said the newspapers were not receiving advertisements these days because there are no social or public events resulting in less commercial activities in the society.

"I would like to urge the media houses not to engage in layoffs or salary cuts during this pandemic. Journalists are working shoulder to shoulder with health workers. During this pandemic, scribes are out in the field collecting news, despite the threat of disease and it was admirable," Vijayan said.

The chief minister said the government has asked the PRD to release the dues to various media houses.

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