Srinagar, Apr 27: At least 10 people may have been injured in two blasts on Sunday that rocked Farooq Abdullah’s campaign rallies. The first one was at Khanyar in Srinagar city at 11.00 a.m.
The second blast occurred near Dr. Abdullah’s rally before his arrival at Magam in Budgam district, on Srinagar-Gulmarg Road at 11.45 a.m.
Leh, Jul 3: Taking an apparent dig at China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the age of expansionism is over and added that the new age of development is here.
"Age of expansionism is over, this is the age of development. History is witness that expansionist forces have either lost or were forced to turn back," Modi said addressing soldiers in Ladakh's Nimmoo. However, the Prime Minister did not mention China at all in his address to the soldiers.
The remark comes amidst the ongoing tension between India and China at Line of Actual Control in the eastern Ladakh. In a violent face-off 20 Indian soldiers were killed in the Galwan Valley on June 15-16 when Chinese troops attempted to unilaterally change the status quo during the de-escalation.
The Prime Minister also said that the people of Ladakh have rejected every attempt to create separatism in the region.
"Ladakh is the head of the country. This is the symbol of pride for the 130 crore citizens of India. This land belongs to the people who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the country... Every attempt to create separatism in the region was rejected by the nationalist people of Ladakh," Modi said.
He also said: "We are the same people who pray to the flute playing Lord Krishna, but we are also the same people who idealise and following the same Lord Krishna who carries the Sudarshan Chakra."
The two countries -- India and China -- have been involved in talks to ease the ongoing border tensions since last month.
Lauding the bravery displayed by the soldiers, the Prime Minister said: "The bravery that you and your compatriots showed, a message has gone to the world about India's strength."
"Your courage is higher than the heights where you are posted today," he added.
"Atmanirbhar Bharat ka sankalp aapke tyag, balidan, pursharth ke karan aur bhi mazbut hai,"(The determination of self-reliant India gets strengthened from your sacrifice and courage)," the Prime Minister said.
The soldiers were observed maintaining social distancing while PM Modi's address here.
PM Modi on Friday made a surprise visit to Ladakh and was briefed by senior officers at Nimmoo amid ongoing tension with China. The Prime Minister was accompanied by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane.
He reached Nimmoo, early morning today and interacted with Army, Air Force and ITBP personnel.
Located at 11,000 feet, this is among the tough terrains, surrounded by Zanskar range and on the banks of the Indus.
Sources had earlier informed about CDS Rawat's visit to Leh today. General Rawat's visit holds importance since it comes in the wake of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's visit to Ladakh being rescheduled.
Earlier, the Defence Minister was scheduled to visit Ladakh today to review the preparedness of the army amid the ongoing standoff with China.
The situation at the India-China border remains tense after 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives in a violent face-off in the Galwan valley on June 15-16 when Chinese troops attempted to unilaterally change the status quo during the de-escalation. India and China have been involved in talks to ease the ongoing border tensions since last month.
May 7: Accusing the BJP government in Karnataka of "medieval barbarism" and treating migrants as worse than "bonded labourers", CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday hit out at the state's decision to stop workers from returning to their homes in different parts of the country citing requirements of the construction sector.
The Karnataka government has withdrawn its request to the railways to run special trains to ferry migrant labourers to their home states, hours after builders met Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to apprise him of the problems the construction sector will face in case they left.
"This is worse than treating them as bonded labour. Does the Indian constitution exist? Are there any laws in the country? This BJP state government is throwing us back to medieval barbarism. This will be stoutly resisted,” Yechury said in a tweet.
The railways is running Shramik Special trains to ferry to their home towns migrants who were stranded at their places of work during the lockdown.
So far, it has run more than 115 such trains.
The Principal Secretary in the Revenue Department N Manjunatha Prasad, who is the nodal officer for migrants, had requested the South Western Railways on Tuesday to run two train services a day for five days except Wednesday, while the state government wanted services thrice a day to Danapur in Bihar. However, later, Prasad wrote another letter within a few hours that the special trains were not required. Several migrants in the city were desperate to return home as they were out of jobs and money.
Yechury also lashed out at the central government over reports that it owed states and industry Rs 3 trillion and accused the centre of shifting the burden of fighting the pandemic to the state governments.
“While shifting the entire burden of fighting the pandemic on to the State governments, Modi government is not even paying their legitimate dues. After November 2019, Centre has not paid the GST compensation dues for the rest of the financial year, i.e., March 2020.
“Modi government has the right to loot while crores of people & States are left with nothing but the right to starve?,” he tweeted.
New Delhi, Jul 3: India reported the highest ever single-day spike of 20,903 COVID-19 cases in 24 hours on Friday, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
With these new cases, India's coronavirus tally has risen to 6,25,544 cases of which 2,27,439 patients are active cases while 3,79,892 patients have been cured/discharged/migrated.
379 more deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in the country in the last 24 hours, taking the number of deaths due to the infection to 18,213.
As per the Health Ministry, Maharashtra -- the worst-affected state from the virus -- has a total of 1,86,626 cases including 8,178 fatalities while Tamil Nadu has 98,392 coronavirus cases in the state inclusive of 1,321 fatalities.
Delhi has reported 92,175 cases so far inclusive of 2,864 patients succumbing to the virus.
The Indian Council of Medical Research on Friday said that the total number of samples tested till July 2 is 92,97,749 of which 2,41,576 samples were tested on Thursday.
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