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Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said the state government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding a direction to the Centre to immediately release grants under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to the state, which is reeling under acute drought. Accusing the Centre of sitting on Karnataka's pleas for release of funds though there is a severe drought, he said the state government was compelled to approach the apex court. «Today the Karnataka government filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against the Centre after waiting for five months. Since there is vacation for a week in the Supreme Court, we did not get the endorsement. We expect it next week,» Siddaramaiah told reporters here. The petition was filed under Article 32 of the Indian Constitution to give directions to the Government of India to release NDR Funds immediately, which was supposed to be released by the Centre according to law, he explained.

Lord Buddha, along with those of his disciples Arahant Sariputta and Arahant Maha Moggallana, after 26 -days returned to the National Museum in Delhi on March 19 and was open to brief exposition to the New Delhi based diplomatic corps on March 20. Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi participated in the ceremony of prayers and chanting in the presence of representatives of the diplomatic corps from 15 countries. Those present on the occasion were Kshenuka Dhireni Senewiratne, High Commissioner of Sri Lanka; Pattarat Hongtong Ambassador, Thailand; Yasiel Alines Burillo Rivera, Ambassador of Panama; Vahagn Afyan, Ambassador of Armenia; Kenneth da Nobrega, Ambassador of Brazil; Guillermo Rubio Funes, Ambassador of El Salvador; Moe Kyaw Aung, Ambassador of Myanmar; Colin Kao, Deputy Director of the Division, Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre in India and senior diplomats from Indonesia, Bhutan, Myanmar, Romania, Peru and Serbia.

Narendra Modi-led government has alleged that the pleas just seek to stir up a political controversy on “bare, unsupported and pernicious statements". In an affidavit filed by Centre in the Supreme Court, the Live Law reported that the Union Ministry of Law has rejected the allegations of the petitioners claiming that Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu were ‘hastily’ appointed to pre-empt SC orders. "To indicate, as the petitioners suggest, that selection committees without judicial members, would invariably be biased is wholly incorrect," the affidavit read.

CAA rules, the Matua community's umbrella organisation on Tuesday asked its members to apply for citizenship only after the formation of a new government at the Centre if they don't have the necessary documents required to prove their previous residential addresses in Bangladesh. The Centre has launched a portal for applying for citizenship under the CAA but many Matua members have faced difficulty in Column 5 of the portal during application. All India Matua Mahasangha has asked its members to not apply for citizenship under the new law for now as many of them do not have required documents. Mahasangha's general secretary Mahitosh Baidya told ET: «Many Matua members tried to fill the online application but have faced difficulties. In column 5, documents related to Bangladesh have been sought like Bangladeshi passport, birth certificate, land deeds or business or job related documents. This column cannot be skipped as 'Not Applicable' and thus they cannot go to the next level.»

Chinese satellites failed to reach a planned orbit on their way to the moon after experiencing abnormalities, a rare setback for Beijing's high-profile space programme. The satellites, known as DRO-A and DRO-B, were launched on Wednesday evening from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in the Sichuan Province, the launch centre said in a press release on Thursday. They were carried by A Yuanzheng-1S (Expedition-1S) upper-stage aircraft, attached to a Long March-2C carrier rocket, it said.

Lilavati Hospital are in talks with private equity investors and pension funds for its proposed Rs 4,000-crore pan-India expansion plan which entails setting up five to six multispecialty hospitals over the next five years. «We will be funding the expansion through internal accruals, and are also in discussions with PE investors, pension funds and donors,» said Prashant Mehta, promoter, Lilavati Hospital. «We will retain the controlling stake,» Mehta added. He said Lilavati is looking at both greenfield and brownfield hospitals as part of its expansion strategy. The proposed expansion will be carried out by Lilavati Foundation, a distinct and separate entity from Lilavati Hospital, Mumbai. «We believe there is still a huge potential for growth of healthcare services in India,» Mehta said. The expansion will encompass 3,000 hospital beds. Lilavati is setting up a greenfield 300-bed multi-specialty hospital in GIFT City, Gujarat with an investment of Rs 300 crore. The hospital is slated to open by 2025-end. Lilavati is also considering opening hospitals in Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh), Noida (Uttar Pradesh), Pune (Maharashtra), and Bengaluru (Karnataka) and Guwahati (Assam), Mehta said. He said they are also looking at expanding the 319-bed Lilavati Hospital & Research Centre in Bandra, Mumbai by adding a 150-bed oncology block, which might involve acquiring adjoining property.

NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for three semiconductor projects worth about ₹1.25 trillion on Wednesday, saying chip manufacturing will take India towards self-reliance and modernity. “India is set to become a prominent semiconductor manufacturing hub. The three facilities will drive economic growth and foster innovation," he said in a virtual address during the foundation ceremony.

Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said people should not «waste their votes» on the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) «if they cannot do anything for the poor». In Farrukhabad, Adityanath lashed out at the previous governments and cautioned the voters not to get seduced by those who «imposed curfews, prevented progress and worked on a policy of appeasement». Addressing a function in Unnao to inaugurate and lay foundation stones of projects worth Rs 241 crore, the chief minister asked the gathering, «Could those in the Congress have made the Ram temple (possible) in Ayodhya? Could those in the SP have made it? If they cannot give ration, houses or health facilities to the poor nor can they respect your faith by building a Ram temple, why do you waste your vote and accept them as a burden over you?» With 80 Lok Sabha seats, the maximum amongst all the states, Uttar Pradesh is the most crucial battleground for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is eyeing to retain power for a third consecutive term at the Centre in the upcoming general election.

fertiliser subsidy receivables. This follows the government's move to offer direct benefit transfer (DBT) to fertiliser companies based on actual sales of retailers to beneficiaries. Currently, a special exemption is given by the Reserve Bank of India, which allows banks to finance fertiliser subsidy receivables for a period of 60 days. «This was meant to be a short-term measure. It is being reviewed, but no final decision has been made. We have received some suggestions from banks, and those are being examined,» said an official aware of the matter. Under the fertiliser DBT system, 100% subsidy on various fertiliser grades is released to fertiliser companies based on actual sales made by the retailers to the beneficiaries.

Nayab Singh Saini belongs to the OBC community in Haryana. So, the move to make him the CM could be seen as a way for the BJP to set the caste-equation right and make inroads in the vote share among the OBCs. The BJP had replaced Om Prakash Dhankar with Saini as the Haryana party chief in October, a move then seen as an attempt to strengthen its hold on the OBC community.

CPM leader M Y Tarigami on Monday said he will try to mend the cracks that have emerged among PAGD constituents — the National Conference and the PDP — over seat sharing for the Lok Sabha polls in Kashmir. The PAGD — an amalgam of seven parties, including the NC and the PDP — was formed in the wake of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution by the Centre in August 2109. «The emergence of PAGD was due to a crisis which still exists. There have been differences between the constituents recently which are out in public. I will still try to mend the gaps that have emerged,» Tarigami, who is the spokesperson of the PAGD, told reporters in Srinagar. The People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) had a seat-sharing arrangement for the District Development Council (DDC) polls held in 2020.

PTI. Punia suffered a crushing 1-9 defeat in the men's freestyle 65kg semifinal against Rohit Kumar. The following defeat was after he barely managed to win against Ravinder (3-3 on criteria) in the opening round.

Tamil Nadu Law Minister and DMK leader S Regupathy on Sunday asserted that his party has no links whatsoever with Jaffer Sadiq, the prime accused in an international drug trafficking case being investigated by the Narcotics Control Bureau. The DMK also warned of legal action against those who attempt to link Sadiq with either the party or its leaders. Speaking to reporters, Regupathy said the BJP regime has now deployed the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to «besmirch» the DMK regime after «misusing» the Enforcement Directorate, the Income Tax department and the Central Bureau of Investigation for that purpose. After the DMK assumed office in 2021, the state government has taken swift action against drug peddling and this has been lauded by courts, he said. «Today, they (Centre) are thinking of intimidating the DMK through the NCB.» Sadiq had held the post of Chennai West-NRI Wing Deputy Organiser in the DMK until he was recently dismissed by the party after allegations connecting him to drug trafficking surfaced. Regupathy blamed NCB Deputy Director General Gyaneshwar Singh for holding a press conference about Sadiq's arrest — even before the probe is completed — based on «false calculations» to tarnish the DMK's image and «to let the BJP gain political mileage» out of it just before the Lok Sabha polls.

India will soon start making equipment for semiconductor manufacturing, Union telecom and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday. «The entire semiconductor ecosystem of fabs, ATMP units, chemicals, gases, substrate, consumables and equipment for semiconductor manufacturing will be made in India,» he said. He was speaking at the inauguration of American chip equipment supplier Applied Materials' India Validation Centre in Bengaluru which was set up at a cost of $20 million.

Sini Shetty was bested by Miss Lebanon who made it till top 4. Sini Shetty, a 22 year old Bharatnatyam dancer represented India in the beauty pageant. She was born and raised in Mumbai.

India will soon start making equipment for semiconductor manufacturing, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday. “The entire semiconductor ecosystem of fabs, ATMP units, chemicals, gases, substrate, consumables and equipment for semiconductor manufacturing will be made in India,” he said. He was speaking at the inauguration of American chip equipment supplier Applied Materials’ India Validation Centre in Bengaluru which was set up at a cost of $20 million.

Narendra Modi on Saturday unveiled hordes of projects worth Rs 55,600 crore for six northeast states, including Manipur, in Itanagar. For conflict-hit Manipur, various projects worth around Rs 3500 crores were virtually flagged off and foundation stones laid. Meghalaya, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Tripura are the five other states of the region covered by the Vikshit programme unveiled on the day. Chief minister N Biren Singh, addressing a function of the event at the City Convention Centre in Imphal East district, said that the northeast states have seen a big change since Modi became the country’s PM.

Miss world 2024: Mumbai is all set to host the 71st Miss World 2024 pageant, which will witness participation from beautiful contestants from 112 countries of the world. India, which is hosting the grand event after 28 years will be represented by 22-year-old Sini Shetty. Ahead of the 71st Miss World 2024 pageant, Sini Shetty expressed her excitement for the event and said representing 1.4 billion people is a huge responsibility.

CNBC-TV18. According to Shahani's LinkedIn profile, Ranjit Shahani is a mechanical engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and an MBA holder from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai, served as the Managing Director and Vice Chairman at Novartis India Ltd. from 2001 to 2018.

Karnataka government on Friday approved six new projects and eight additional investment proposals worth Rs 17,835.9 crore, with a potential to generate 27,000 jobs across the state, officials said. The State High-Level Clearance Committee (SHLCC), headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, at its meeting here, gave the nod to new projects worth Rs 8,220.05 crore, and additional investment ones worth Rs 9,615.85 crore, they said. The new projects include Wistron Infocomm Manufacturing India's proposal to invest Rs 2,095 crore and provide employment to 21,723 in the state, officials said. According to an official statement, other major proposals that received the government's green signal are: Air India Limited (Rs 1,750 crore investments), ICT Service Management Solutions (India) Private Limited (Rs 1,450 crore), STT Global Data Centres India Private Limited (Rs 1,352.3 crore) and Indian Cane Power Limited (Rs 1,078 crore).

₹19,600 crore at Chandikhole in Odisha's Jajpur district, and said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre was trying to complete projects ‘rapidly’. The new projects related to sectors such as oil and gas, railways, road transport, highways and atomic energy. During the event, PM Modi said the previous governments had never shown interest in the timely completion of projects, adding that those projects that remained stuck in the previous governments' time were completed under the tenure of the BJP-led Centre in the past 10 years.