India

New Delhi, Jan 11 (PTI) The Indian Navy will kick-start a two-day mega defence exercise on Tuesday covering the country's 7516 km coastline and exclusive economic zone, officials said.

Billed as India's largest coastal defence exercise, it will involve all the 13 coastal states and Union Territories along with other maritime stakeholders, they said.

"The second edition of the biennial pan-India coastal defence exercise 'Sea Vigil-21' will be conducted on January 12-13," the Navy said.

Jammu, Jan 11 (PTI) The Congress on Monday claimed that the BJP's vote share in the District Development Council (DDC) polls declined by around 25 per cent in Jammu region as compared to the last Lok Sabha elections.

Jammu and Kashmir Congress in-charge Rajni Patil alleged that the BJP made every attempt to polarise the election atmosphere for vested political interests but the Congress is a unifying force and would not compromise on its inclusive policies for the sake of political interests.

New Delhi, Jan 11 (PTI) Ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament this month, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is in touch with leaders of various opposition parties who will soon meet to chalk out their joint strategy to corner the government on farm laws, sources said on Monday.

Gandhi is learnt to have started talking to opposition leaders for holding a joint meeting of various parties ahead of the session.

Kolkata, Jan 11 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said, without naming anyone, that she will not allow the country to be divided, and will live, work and die for people.

Speaking at the inauguration of the rest camp of Gangasagar pilgrims at Babughat area of Kolkata, she said that great leaders treat all people equally.

Since Independence, the country faced many problems but the country has not been divided, said Banerjee who is also the Trinamool Congress supremo.

Jammu, Jan 11 (PTI) Two men were arrested here on Monday for allegedly raping a minor girl, police said.

Jammu residents Balbir Kumar and Rahul Kumar were arrested on a complaint lodged by the victim's mother with Arnia police station, they said.

The girl's mother alleged in her complaint on Sunday that the two men raped her daughter after kidnapping her, said police.

On the girl's mother complaint, the victim was medically examined and an FIR was lodged against the two accused.

Ghaziabad, Jan 11 (PTI) A section of farmers protesting against the three central farm laws on Monday threatened to gherao' Uttar Pradesh Raj Bhavan on January 23.

Bhartiya Kisan Union spokesperson Dharmendra Malik in a statement said the agitating farmers would also burn copies of farm legislation on that day.

Jaipur, Jan 11 (PTI) A day after blocking traffic on one carriageway of Jaipur-Delhi National Highway alleging that protesting farmers were creating unemployment and littering garbage in adjoining fields, local villagers returned home on Monday after Haryana police opened a slip lane on the highway.

On Sunday, locals near agitation site in Shajahanpur of Rajasthan's Alwar had pitched tents on one carriageway of the highway against the farmers' agitation.

Amaravati(AP), Jan 12 (PTI) Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday received 4.96 lakh doses of Covaxin, the much awaited coronavirus vaccine.

A special cargo plane brought the vaccine to the Vijayawada airport from Pune on Tuesday afternoon.

From there the consignment was shifted to the state vaccine depot in Gannavaram.

State Health Commissioner Katamaneni Bhaskar said the first consignment of vaccine doses would be sufficient to vaccinate about 3.7 lakh health care workers in the first round beginning January 16.

New Delhi/Pune, Jan 12 (PTI) The first consignment of Covishield vaccines reached Delhi from Pune on Tuesday, four days ahead of the launch of a nationwide drive against the coronavirus

A SpiceJet flight carrying the vaccines landed at the Delhi airport around 10 am. It had left for the national capital around 8 am, three hours after three trucks with the maiden consignment of the vaccines rolled out of the Serum Institute of India (SII) facility, 15 km from the Pune airport

New Delhi, Jan 11 (PTI) Delhi on Monday confirmed bird flu cases after eight samples sent to a Bhopal-based laboratory tested positive for avian influenza.

All eight samples -- four from a park in Mayur Vihar Phase 3, three from Sanjay Lake and one from Dwarka -- have been found positive for avian influenza, Dr Rakesh Singh from the animal husbandry unit of the Development Department said.

The report of the test results arrived on Monday morning, he said.