India

New Delhi, Jan 25 (PTI) Mock trials for remote voting facility for electors would begin soon, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora has said.

In his message to mark the 11th National Voters' Day, he said a research project on remote voting using cutting-edge technology has already begun.

"There has been a good progress in this regard and mock trials would begin soon," Arora said on Sunday, adding the poll panel's proposal to extend postal ballot facility for overseas Indian voters was under active consideration of the Law Ministry.

NEW DELHI/BEIJING (Reuters) - Indian and Chinese troops were involved in a “minor face-off” last week in a disputed stretch of their shared border in the eastern Himalayas, the Indian army said on Monday, underlining the fraught situation at the border.

China said the two sides must refrain from escalatory actions.

Nuclear-armed India and China have been in a tense standoff since April in the western Himalayas and since then have bolstered forces all along the 3,800-km (2,350-mile) border.

Kondagaon, Jan 25 (PTI) A deputy sarpanch was killed by Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Kondagaon district, over 200 kilometres from state capital Raipur, police said on Monday.

The incident took place late Saturday evening in Permapal village under Bayanar police station limits when the victim, identified as Bajjaram Korram, was in his house with his family, an official said.

As per preliminary information, over a dozen ultras stormed into the house of Korram, deputy sarpanch of Permapal, dragged him out, thrashed him and strangled him, the official said.

Kanpur: Foggy weather with a minimum temperature of 5° Celsius in Jajmau of the district compels residents to cover them completely. Though the daily chores are not hindered all the more, one clean-shaven man with a stylish woollen cap tries arduously to beat the bitter cold under the afternoon sun's warm heat.

It was neither bonfire nor the changing dispositions of his face that attracted others' attention towards him but the very unique cap was the cynosure of several eyes at the moment.

On January 22, 2021, Indian Diaspora groups across Europe submitted a common memorandum to Indian embassies in their respective countries of residence.

NEW DELHI, January 24. /TASS/: Pakistan’s government decided to allow the emergency use of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine in the country, the Dawn newspaper reported on Sunday citing the government’s sources.

"At the meeting held by the registration board of Pakistan’s Drug Regulatory Authority, another vaccine was also approved for emergency use," according to the newspaper. "After this decision, the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine was the third one to be approved for emergency use in the country," the source noted.

NEW DELHI, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Indian government Sunday said nearly 1.6 million people were vaccinated against COVID-19 since the beginning of the inoculation drive last week across the country.

The inoculation drive against COVID-19 across India began on Jan. 16.

The federal health ministry said nearly 1.6 million beneficiaries had received the COVID-19 vaccination till Sunday. "In the last 24 hours, 191,609 people were vaccinated across 3,512 sessions."

New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) The National Green Tribunal has directed the authorities in Uttar Pradesh to take action against unregulated dumping of solid waste in the Yamuna flood plains, noting that steps taken for handling the waste are not adequate.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said despite monitoring for over five years and also taking coercive measures, no progress is visible.

New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) Former union minister M J Akbar on Saturday reiterated before a Delhi court that the allegations of sexual misconduct made by journalist Priya Ramani against him were "fabricated and false".

Akbar made the submission before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar through senior advocate Geeta Luthra during the final hearing in a criminal complaint filed by him against Ramani for allegedly defaming him by accusing him of sexual misconduct decades ago.

Chandigarh, Jan 22 (PTI) Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday condemned the registration of a case against party leader and Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

Sirsa was booked by the Delhi Police on Thursday for alleged misappropriation of funds during his tenure as the secretary general of the DSGMC.