India

New Delhi, Jul 28 (PTI) Nearly 48 per cent parents are not willing to send their children to schools till they are vaccinated against the novel coronavirus infection, says a new survey.

The survey conducted with over 32,000 parents across 361 districts in the country found that 30 per cent parents are willing to send their wards to schools if coronavirus cases in their districts come down to zero.

New Delhi, Jul 28 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday remained ambivalent on being the face of the Opposition to take on the BJP, saying it will depend on the situation.

"I want to help all the opposition parties to bell the cat. I don't want to be a leader, but a simple cadre," she said on the leadership issue.

New Delhi, Jul 27 (PTI) InterGlobe Aviation, parent of the country's largest airline IndiGo, on Tuesday reported a net loss of Rs 3,174 crore for the three months to June, primarily due to a sharp decline in revenues amid the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The airline, which had a fleet of 277 planes at the end of June 2021, incurred a net loss of Rs 2,844 crore in the year-ago period.

New Delhi, Jul 28 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir would be granted statehood at an "appropriate" time after normalcy is restored there, the government told Parliament on Wednesday.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai stated this in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

He was replying to a question on whether the government had any proposal to "reinstate" the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir and whether some efforts have been made to end the year-long ban on different means of communication.

New Delhi, Jul 28 (PTI) Drug firm Pfizer Ltd on Wednesday reported a 60.63 per cent rise in its net profit to Rs 199.91 crore for the quarter ended in June mainly on account of robust sales.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs124.45 crore for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, Pfizer Ltd said in a regulatory filing.

Revenue from operations of the company stood at Rs 749.17 crore for the quarter under consideration. It was Rs 514.89 crore for the same period a year ago, it added.

Shimla/Jammu, Jul 28 (PTI) A series of flash floods in Himachal Pradesh and the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh killed at least 16 people on Wednesday and damaged several residential houses, standing crops and a mini power plant, officials said.

In Kishtwar, a cloudburst hit a remote village around 4:30 am, leaving seven people dead and 17 others injured, while at least nine people are dead, two injured and seven reported missing in the flash floods in the hilly state, they said.

NEW DELHI (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was talking with top Indian officials Wednesday in meetings that are expected to deepen ties between the important allies that are both rivals to a rising China.

Blinken and Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar were likely to discuss strengthening Indo-Pacific engagement, seen as a counter to China, as well as New Delhi’s recent human rights record and issues related to the coronavirus pandemic and climate change. A possible summit of leaders of the Quad in the U.S. later this year is also expected to be on the agenda.

Barabanki (UP), Jul 28 (PTI) At least 18 people were killed and 25 injured after a truck rammed into a stationary double-decker bus here, police said on Wednesday.

The accident took place on the Lucknow-Ayodhya highway under Kotwali Ramsanehighat area late on Tuesday night. The private bus was carrying over 130 passengers to Bihar from Ludhiana in Punjab, they said.

The axle of the bus broke down and it was parked on the road when a speeding truck coming from behind hit it, killing 18 people on the spot and injuring 25 others, the police said.

New Delhi, Jul 27 (PTI) The Supreme Court sought the responses of the Centre and the Delhi government on Tuesday on a plea seeking rehabilitation and vaccination of beggars and vagabonds in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The apex court, which made it clear that it would not take an "elitist view" that no beggars should be allowed on the streets as this is a socio-economic problem, asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to assist it in the matter.

NEW DELHI (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was en route to India on Tuesday to discuss strengthening Indo-Pacific engagement, seen as a counter to China, as well as New Delhi’s recent human rights record and other issues.

Blinken’s visit includes meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior officials on Wednesday, and comes just days after his No. 2 diplomat, Wendy Sherman, was in China for face-to-face talks.