India

New Delhi, Jun 11 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held deliberations with Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda amid speculation about a reshuffle in the Union cabinet, an exercise Modi has not undertaken since forming the government for a second time in May 2019.

There is also a growing buzz about the Cabinet expansion in Uttar Pradesh after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath met the BJP top brass during his two-day visit to the national capital.

Guwahati, Jun 11 (PTI) The opposition Congress and AIUDF along with a minority student body on Friday termed Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's statement asking the minority community to adopt a decent family planning policy as "unfortunate, frivolous and misleading".

Jodhpur, Jun 11 (PTI) The district authorities on Friday started COVID-19 vaccination for Pakistani Hindu migrants who do not have Indian identity documents, officials said.

The migrants were given jabs on the basis of their Pakistani passports, they said.

Around 100 migrants got the much-awaited vaccine jab at one of the camps on the first day of the exercise started for them in the district, the officials said.

Lucknow, Jun 11 (PTI) The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on Friday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Samajwadi Party MP Mohd Azam Khan in connection with appointment of 1,300 engineers, clerks and stenographers at Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam during the previous regime.

The recruitment was carried out when Khan was the Urban Development Minister.

Khan is currently undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Lucknow after he tested positive for coronavirus.

Nagpur, Jun 11 (PTI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma met Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh supremo Mohan Bhagwat at the organization's headquarters here on Friday.

He had come only to take Bhagwat's blessings after becoming chief minister, he said.

This was Sarma's first visit to the RSS headquarters after becoming chief minister of Assam a month ago.

He spent more than an hour at the RSS headquarters.

Speaking to the media later, the Assam chief minister said his family has old relations with Bhagwat.

Bargarh (Odisha), Jun 11 (PTI) A member of the proscribed CPI (Maoist), who was carrying a reward on his head, was killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in Odisha's Bargarh district on Friday, the police said.

Muzaffarnagar, June 12 (PTI) An eight-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her neighbour in a village here, police said on Saturday, adding the accused has absconded.

Kapil Kumar took the girl to a field on Friday on the pretext of giving her mangoes and raped her, they said.

The girl ran to her home crying and narrated her ordeal to her family, they added.

NEW DELHI, Jun 11 (NNN-PTI) – Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, will attend the G7 (Group of Seven) Summit virtually, tomorrow, Jun 12-13, announced the Ministry of External Affairs spokesman, Arindam Bagchi.

The G7 summit is going to be held in Britain.

“In accordance with the G7 Summit invitation, from U.K. Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, Modi will participate in outreach sessions virtually,” said the spokesman.

The Indian PM’s decision to attend the summit virtually was made, in consideration of the COVID-19 situation in India.

NEW DELHI, Jun 11 (NNN-PTI) – India’s agriculture exports, during the financial year 2020-21 (Apr 2020-Mar 2021) crossed the 40- billion U.S. dollar-mark, reaching 41.25 billion U.S. dollars, indicating an increase of 17.34 percent over the previous year.

Briefing the media virtually, Commerce Secretary, Anup Wadhawan, stated that, agriculture exports also included allied products, such as marine and plantation products.

The figures assume significance in the wake of nationwide lockdown, imposed on Mar 24 last year, to curb the pandemic.

Srinagar, Jun 11 (PTI) At least 18 houses were gutted in a blaze that broke out in Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir, leaving 30 families homeless, officials said on Friday.

The fire broke out late on Thursday at Sweeper Colony in the Noorbagh area, they said, adding that police, fire and emergency services department were pressed into service to douse it.

The Army's fire tenders were also used to extinguish the flames, they said.