India

Srinagar, Jul 5 (PTI) The People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) on Monday said assembly elections should be held only after restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and asked the BJP-led central government to honour its commitment made on the floor of Parliament.

As far as the restoration of statehood is concerned, it has been BJPs commitment on the floor of Parliament and they must honour their word, alliance spokesperson and CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami said in a statement.

New Delhi, Jul 5 (PTI) India's services sector activities contracted further in June as the intensification of the COVID-19 crisis and reintroduction of containment measures restricted demand, a monthly survey said on Monday.

The seasonally adjusted India Services Business Activity Index fell from 46.4 in May to 41.2 in June, as new work intakes and output contracted at the fastest rates since July 2020, which prompted companies to reduce employment again.

Srinagar, Jul 4 (PTI) A week after a drone attack at an Air Force base in Jammu, authorities in Srinagar on Sunday banned the sale, possession and use of such unmanned aerial vehicles in the city.

Earlier, authorities in border districts of Rajouri and Kathua in the Jammu region had put curbs on the use of drones and other UAVs in the wake of the terror attack last Sunday.

Two explosives-laden drones had crashed into the Indian Air Force station at Jammu airport and there were other suspicious sightings of UAVs, triggering a security alert.

Hyderabad, Jul 4 (PTI) Mohammed Azharuddin was on Sunday re-instated as President of the Hyderabad Cricket Association by Ombudsman Justice (retd) Deepak Verma, who also "temporarily disqualified" five members of the Apex Council, which had suspended the former India captain.

In an interim order, the HCA Ombudsman a temporarily disqualified five members of the HCA Apex Council --K John Manoj, Vice President, R Vijayanand, Naresh Sharma, Surender Agarwal, Anuradha.

Lucknow; 04 July 2021 (UMMN): BJP won 67 out of 75 district seats in UP Zila Parishad chairman polls. Samajwadi Party won 5, Lok Dal and Jansatta Dal won 1 each, and 1 seat went to independent candidate.

Jammu, Jul 3 (PTI) Senior BJP leader Kavinder Gupta on Saturday said the reported decision of former chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah of making their participation in assembly election conditional will be a great disservice to people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Kendrapara, Jul 3 (PTI) An ASHA worker, who had received both the doses of COVID-19 vaccine, succumbed to the infection in Odisha's Kendrapara district, an official said on Saturday.

Saraswati Mallick, 35, an accredited social health activists (ASHA) worker of the Derabish community health centre, was admitted to a Covid hospital in Chhata last week.

She was put on a ventilator after her oxygen level started dipping and she died on Friday night, said Yashaswini Sahani, the assistant manager of ASHA in the Kendrapara district headquarter hospital.

Kendrapara, Jul 3 (PTI) A woman employee of a child care centre in Odisha's Kendrapara district was arrested on Saturday in an alleged sexual exploitation case, police said.

The caretaker of the centre, Renubala Panda was arrested after prima facie it was found that she abetted the sexual exploitation of the inmates of the short stay home at Patalipanka village in Marsaghai police station, an officer said.

The centre is run by an NGO named Lutheran Mahila Samiti.

New Delhi, Jul 4 (PTI) A day after the Congress demanded a JPC probe into the Rafale deal, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday put out an online survey asking why the Modi government was not ready for it.

Among the choices given by Gandhi to the question were guilt conscience, saving friends, JPC does not want a Rajya Sabha seat and all the above.

Lucknow, Jul 3 (PTI) AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh on Saturday met Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav here, triggering speculation about a tie up between both parties ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections next year.

The Aam Aadmi Party leader, however, refused to comment over it, saying he met Yadav to convey birthday greetings to him and held discussion over the current political situation in the state.

Singh refused to divulge details of his meeting with Yadav.