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Election Commission on Tuesday began consultations with political parties in Jammu and Kashmir to review preparedness for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the Union territory. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and other officials of the poll panel, who arrived here on Monday for a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, held interactions with delegations from the National Conference, PDP, BJP, CPI(M), Congress, and the Aam Admi Party, officials said here. National Conference leader Nasir Aslam Wani, who led his party's delegation, said they impressed upon the Election Commission the need for holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir together with the Lok Sabha polls. «We told the commission that it has been 10 years that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been deprived of their democratic rights. The commission gave us a patient hearing,» Wani said.

Citizenship Amendment Act on Monday, March 11, weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha 2024 elections. The Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2024, enabling the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed by the Parliament in 2019, grant Indian citizenship to refugees who had sought shelter in India before December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution in three countries - Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Follow Live Updates on CAA Rules here The contentious Act passed in 2019 faced many delays amid criticism for excluding Muslims.

Election Commission held a briefing here in the national capital on Monday for all its observers for the General Election to Lok Sabha and General Election to Legislative Assemblies 2024. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar will address the meeting, according to sources. The aim of the meeting for over 2000 observers is to streamline strategy to ensure that the model code is implemented during the elections. The observers will monitor polls to ensure the process is «free and fair.»

India and four-nation European bloc EFTA on Sunday signed a free trade agreement to help promote investments and exports of key domestic services sectors such as IT, audio-visual, and movement of skilled professionals. The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. Union Minister Piyush Goyal, quoting PM Narendra Modi, said, «Despite structural diversities in many aspects, our economies possess complementarities that promise to be a win-win situation for all nations. With the opening up of enormous trading and investment opportunities, we have reached a new level of trust and ambition. The trade agreement symbolizes our shared agreement to open fair, equitable trade, as well as generate growth and employment for the youth.»

BJP target for ensuing general elections and abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said his party winning 370 seats will be a fitting tribute to the historic decision of the Modi government that has helped integrate J&K with the rest of the country. In an interview with PTI, Commerce Minister Goyal asserted that the target of 370 seats for the BJP and 400 seats for the NDA comes from the conviction of good governance in the last 10 years by the Modi government and not over-confidence and arrogance. He said the general election might throw a surprise and the final tally of BJP and NDA might be higher. Goyal did not comment on whether BJD will be part of the NDA, but welcomed all well-meaning good parties to be part of the journey to make India a developed nation by 2047.

Election Commission of India on Friday held a meeting with the Ministry of Home Affairs to take stock of security requirements for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar and election commissioner Arun Goel held a meeting with Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla to discuss deployment of central forces for the general elections. It is gathered that officials from the Ministry of Railways were also part of the deliberations in order to plan smooth movement of central forces across the country. The discussions come just ahead of the commission members' visit to Jammu & Kashmir next week. The deliberations will help in scheduling Lok Sabha and assembly polls in the Union Territory. Kumar and Goel are scheduled to visit Jammu and Kashmir on March 12-13.

PDP in Jammu and Kashmir for the forthcoming parliamentary polls are on and there is no disagreement between the members of the INDIA bloc in the Union Territory, a Congress office-bearer said here on Friday. «There is no disagreement. It is not a big issue. Every party has a right to claim as many seats it can. But, the talks are on,» Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) senior vice president Ghulam Nabi Monga told reporters. Monga's remarks came after the National Conference (NC) said it will field candidates on the three seats in the Kashmir Valley without leaving a seat for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). J-K has five Lok Sabha seats, including two from Jammu region, while Ladakh has one. In the last elections, while the NC won all the three seats from the valley, the BJP won the two Jammu seats as well as the lone Ladakh seat.

Multibagger penny stock: GTL Infrastructure shares are one of the multibagger stocks that the Indian stock market has delivered in the last one year. This penny stock has ascended from ₹0.85 to ₹1.85 per share level NSE, delivering over 115 percent return to its long-term shareholders. It would interesting for stock market investors to know that a good number of state-owned companies have a shareholding in this penny stock.

RJD Chief Lalu Prasad's 'Parivarvaad' jibe on PM Modi, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said he has «never been in favour of such slogans», allowing the PM to score a goal". RJD and the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference are partners in the opposition INDIA bloc, formed to take on the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. «I have never been in favour of such slogans and we have never benefited from them. Whenever we use such slogans, it harms us,» he said.

NEW DELHI : The Union cabinet has approved a ₹10,372-crore India AI Mission that will provide funding for deep-tech AI startups as well as seek to develop an open-source database that can be used to train artificial intelligence models and other applications. The mission will also provide a framework for developing graphic processing units (GPUs) under public-private partnerships as well as multi-model, domain-specific large language models that power generative AI platforms.

₹6,400 crore and addressed the public at the Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar. Ahead of PM Modi's visit, security was beefed up in the valley with more deployment of security personnel and check posts. Thousands of people thronged the Bakshi Stadium to listen to PM Modi's address and even chanted slogans in his support.

Gold loan interest rates vary with bankbanksthatpurposes; however, one should be aware of other charges which will be applicable when availing gold loan. The charges include processing fees, foreclosure charges, valuation charges, documentation charges, Overdue Handling Charges (delinquent accounts) are some o them.

Jammu and Kashmir LG Manoj Sinha on Sunday launched a new startup policy with a focus to establish 2,000 startups in the Union Territory by 2027. The 'New Jammu & Kashmir Start-up Policy- 2024-27' will also provide patent-related assistance, financial assistance for mentorship to recognised startups, facilitation for department for the promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) registration and additional need-based support to startups working in diverse fields, Sinha said. «I invite the potential investors from across the country to explore the unlimited possibilities present in the Union Territory and contribute to the growth journey of Jammu Kashmir,» the lieutenant governor said at the launch of the policy at the Avinya Startup Summit here.

new government in May 2024. The Election Commission of India (ECI) is expected to announce the dates of Lok Sabha elections 2024 anytime now and the polls are expected in April-May this year. The blueprint for the Viksit Bharat vision was formulated following an exhaustive two-year-long preparation phase, characterized by extensive consultations among ministries, state governments, academia, industry bodies, civil society, and scientific organizations.

medical emergencies, but as India gears up for the Lok Sabha polls, health remains conspicuously absent from the election discourse, feel experts. Not only are most parties seemingly uninterested in prioritising commitments on health in their poll agenda, even the voter on the street appears to be unaware of healthcare rights, the public health experts say. The result is that election after election, medical infrastructure and services leave a lot to be desired. «Public health issues have traditionally not been a prominent poll agenda in India due to various factors. The most vocal sections of society 'the educated middle class' often do not access public health services, instead preferring the private sector. Hence, demands to improve government health services are not raised strongly,» Dr Abhay Shukla, national co-convenor of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, told PTI.

PTI citing officials, the 270-km highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, was blocked at over half a dozen places between Nashri and Banihal. “The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) have mobilised men and machines to clear the highway for one-way traffic," officials said.

New Delhi stating that the nation that has institutionalized the systemic persecution of its minorities and has a truly abysmal human rights record has no right to comment on India. Speaking at the high-level segment of the 55th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council, First Secretary Anupama Singh on Wednesday said it is regrettable that the Council's forum has once again been abused to propagate flagrantly false accusations about India.

mutual fund product that earns them more than bank deposits with high tax efficiency could consider the new fund offer of the Parag Parikh Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund. The scheme is structured to bet on a mix of stocks, bonds, and equity arbitrage opportunities. While most mutual fund schemes in the balanced advantage or dynamic asset allocation categories are equity-oriented, this scheme will maintain the equity allocation between 35% and 65% to make it eligible for the indexation benefits announced by the government in the Union budget for 2023-24. The portfolio will have a 10-20% allocation to equities, some in arbitrage (to reach between 35-65%), and the rest in fixed-income securities. This structure ensures indexation benefits for investors who hold on to the scheme for more than three years.

NEW DELHI : The Union health ministry plans to expand the scope of its flagship cashless health insurance scheme, covering more expensive cancer and transplant-related surgeries and treatments for individuals from poor families. The ministry had in 2022 included certain basic oncology treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation, as well as kidney and heart transplants and dialysis under the scheme called Ayushman Bharat–Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna. While private hospitals typically charge ₹2.5 lakh to ₹10 lakh for such procedures, the government plans to include more complex treatments costing ₹20 lakh to ₹30 lakh, according to two ministry officials familiar with the plans.

Israel accused Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of trivialising the Holocaust and causing offence to the Jewish people on Sunday after he likened the Israeli war against Hamas militants in Gaza to the Nazi genocide during World War Two. «What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has no parallel in other historical moments. In fact, it did exist when Hitler decided to kill the Jews,» Lula told reporters during the 37th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa.

Taipur village, drives to Khanauri to offer langar to thousands of farmers settled on the Punjab-Haryana border. He doesn't count how many meals he and his fellow villagers cook. «We start langar at around 10 am and go on till midnight.