India

Chennai, Jul 27 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Monday launched a free mask distribution scheme to benefit over 69 lakh families in the first phase, as part of measures to help fight COVID-19.

Palaniswami gave away the masks to five people at the Secretariat marking the inauguration of the first phase of the scheme, which would witness distribution tobeneficiaries through ration shops.

New Delhi, Jul 27 (PTI) A 40-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly abducting and raping a minor girl in North Delhi's Sadar Bazaar area, police said on Monday.

The accused, Sudama, resided in Nabi Karim area and worked as a cart puller in Sadar Bazaar, they said.

The incident took place on Friday night.

Chennai, Jul 27 (PTI) Congress leaders courted arrest when they attempted to take out a march to the Raj Bhavan here on Monday protesting against the BJP for allegedly trying to destabilise the Ashok Gehlotgovernment in Rajasthan.

Party workers, led by Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K S Alagiri, raised slogans against the BJP alleging it was trying to 'purchase' MLAs to unseat the democratically electedCongress government in the western state.

KANPUR: Beware, if your goat roams without the mask on the open, wide road, it could not escape the temerity of confinement as was reported. 

It goes thus: The police arrested a goat roaming without a mask on the road in Beconganj locality here. The incident took place over the weekend. The goat was loaded in the jeep for the police station.

Though the police later handed the goat to its owner, the bizarre case stunned everyone. After all, the policemen also have a compassionate heart.

NEW DELHI, July 26 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 people were killed and nearly 1.5 million people were affected by floods in 11 districts in India's eastern state of Bihar, the state disaster management department said in a bulletin on Sunday.

Darbhanga is the worst-affected district as 536,000 people have either been displaced or are trapped inside their homes, the department said.

In Muzaffarpur district, over 200,000 people have been affected, while the number of sufferers in East Champaran has touched 272,000, the bulletin stated.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend a groundbreaking ceremony next week for a Hindu temple on a disputed site in northern India where a 16th century mosque was torn down by Hindu hard-liners in 1992, according to the trust overseeing the temple construction.

The ceremony is set for Aug. 5, a date organizers said was astrologically auspicious for Hindus but that also marks a year since the Indian Parliament revoked the semi-autonomous status of its only Muslim-majority state, Jammu and Kashmir.

Jaipur, Jul 25 (PTI) A day after leading a dharna at the Raj Bhawan here, Rajasthan Chief Minister on Saturday said if necessary Congress MLAs will meet the President and hold a sit-in outside the prime minister's home to settle the crisis in the state.

According to party sources, Gehlot said this while addressing a Congress Legislature Party meeting held at the hotel where MLAs loyal to him are holed up.

He also told the MLAs that they may have to stay put there longer.

Jaipur, Jul 25 (PTI) An 18-year-old girl died of suicide by hanging after she was allegedly gang-raped in Churu district of Rajasthan, police said on Saturday.

The victim was abducted from her house on Friday night by three accused who took her to a deserted place and allegedly gang-raped her there in Hamirwas police station area, police said.

NEW DELHI, July 26 (NNN-UNI) – India’s main opposition party, the Indian National Congress (INC), decided to organise nationwide protests tomorrow, against the country’s ruling party – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), over the latter’s attempts to “topple” INC-led state governments.

Bhopal, Jul 25 (PTI) BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur on Saturday appealed people to recite the Hanuman Chalisa five times a day till August 5, which she believes will rid the world of the coronavirus pandemic.

`Bhoomi pujan' or the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya is to take place on August 5.